Lone protestor Dan Richard wants Powell River to know that a common weedkiller is killing the bees, the butterflies and, eventually, people.
For the past few weeks, Richard has been sitting on the side of Joyce Avenue, near the entrance to the Town Centre Mall, with his red placard warning about the corporation Monsanto and its herbicide Roundup.
Richard wants retailers Canadian Tire, Walmart and Rona to take the product off their shelves and he would like to see City of Powell River and Powell River Regional District follow several other BC municipalities and ban the herbicide outright.
“It’s not just me here in Powell River, it’s also in other places all across Canada that are starting to get concerned that they are selling the stuff when the rest of the world is so against it,” said Richard. “I believe something is going to happen soon.”
The World Health Organization’s recent conclusion that Roundup could cause cancer in humans and the fact that it is killing pollinator populations is reason enough to ban the chemical, said Richard.
Monsanto responded to the organization’s report in a news release stating that it does not agree and does not understand how the health body reached a conclusion so far away from the one reached by all regulatory agencies around the globe.
Powell River Rona Building Centre owner Pat Hull said he is sympathetic to Richard’s protest, but he does not think he will pull the product off the shelves.
“The problem is not those 100-millilitre bottles that I have of it,” said Hull. “It’s the 80-foot-wide sprayers travelling up and down our food chain all day long. Fix that, leave the consumer alone.”
Powell River Walmart manager Steve Scott said the store is considering pulling the product off the shelves. Representatives from Canadian Tire did not respond by press time.
