The city of Rotterdam in response to a petition from its residents and the efforts of the environmental group Groenzitter banned the use of glyphosphate, a herbicide, in its city.

The city recognized that the use of Roundup, (a Monsanto product), is controversial and harmful to the environment and costs millions to remove the herbicide and its by products from the local drinking supply, due to groundwater contamination.

The leader of the environmental group Groenzittter, Emile Cammeraat, celebrated the victory with the following statement: ” The products that Monsanto produces are genetically engineered seeds, where the related herbicide kills everything except Monsanto’s plants. Roundup is also superfluous as there are biological alternatives that can be used”.

The city’s environmental protection act also took into consideration two other suggestions from Groenlink, which have a substantial on the local wildlife population including birds and bees. The city pledged to increase the surrounding vegetation in parks, playgrounds and other green areas in the city with a total cost of approximately 90,000 Euro a year.

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