Cleaners ban herbicides

Press, 14 March 1987, Page 9

Cleaners ban herbicides

School cleaners throughout New Zealand have banned the use of herbicides after a Wellington cleaner took ill when she unwittingly came into contact with Paraquat. Mr Gavin Cumming, secretary of the Canterbury Cleaners’ Union, said that outside contractors had sprayed paraquat in the grounds of a Wellington school, two hours before the woman

arrived. She was now suffering health problems and had been off work for two months on accident compensation, he said. “Our unions, right throughout New Zealand, ask for an inquiry into what happened,” said Mr Cumming. They hoped to see a standard code of practice adopted, covering the types of sprays able to be used, and how they were

to be applied. In the meantime, the unions, which also cover school groundsmen, had banned the use of any herbicide.

A spokesman for the Canterbury Education Board said yesterday that it had heard nothing official about the ban, although the Education Department had recently issued a list of herbicides that were not to be used at schools.