With little fanfare, Napa City Manager, Steve Potter, presented a new administrative regulation to the Napa City Council at its afternoon meeting this past Tuesday, officially banning all glyphosate-based herbicides on all City of Napa property. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup weedkiller.



According to the administrative report, Napa Parks and Recreation Services had already discontinued its use of glyphosate in 2016, and the Napa Utilities Department did the same in 2017. The new regulation codifies those departments' existing practice and extends it to all City of Napa departments, prohibiting all City employees and contractors from using glyphosate on all lands owned and maintained by the City. It requires Napa City employees who become aware of any glyphosate use to report it to their supervisor.

Co-coordinator of GMO-Free Napa County, Carol Nagle, who spoke during public comment on the topic, pointed out that the City of Napa took this action on the same day that a second case was decided in favor of a plaintiff from California in which a jury determined that glyphosate was a significant cause of his Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. There are currently 8,000 such cases pending nationwide. Several community members who spoke thanked the Napa City Council for the new regulation and urged it to go a step further by banning all synthetic pesticides on City-owned lands.