Tsai Pei-hui advocates banning herbicides within 200 meters around public places to prevent misuse

The Pesticide Management Act explicitly states that using herbicides outside approved scope is illegal, but central law cannot reach that far, and local governments have failed to effectively manage herbicide use. Campuses, parks and roadsides are still sprayed heavily with herbicides, which not only affects human health but also causes environmental damage. Legislator Tsai Pei-hui demanded that the Council of Agriculture work with the Environmental Protection Administration to study detailed rules and supporting measures for weed management in public spaces within half a year, and to ban herbicides within 200 meters around public spaces.

At a press conference on the 17th titled "Pesticides for Agricultural Use - Let Children Run with Peace of Mind, Actively [Address] Herbicides," Tsai Pei-hui said that township offices now lack funds, so some county roads and small rural roads are sprayed with herbicides, and spraying even goes directly into villages, leaving residents' gardens and kitchens exposed to the danger of herbicides. Mothers in Puli also said that lawns on campuses are sprayed with herbicides, but lawns come into contact with children's skin. If herbicide doses are too high and there are no standard regulations, it will harm children's health, so they strongly refuse to use herbicides and prohibit herbicides from entering campuses.

Herbicides Exposed in the Air: "Going to Exercise Equals Going to Inhale Toxins"

Kuo Hua-jen said that herbicides are highly lethal to humans, animals and the environment. After herbicides are sprayed, they flow to the ground and bind with soil particles, and finally are blown by wind into human noses. Humans directly absorb the herbicides, or the chemicals may run off into water during rain, harming aquatic organisms.

Liu Yueh-mei, chairperson of the Society of Wilderness, said that herbicides not only affect nearby animals and plants, but even water sources and soil are all contaminated. "Imagine if you were an insect, and someone sprayed herbicides on your dining table every day - you would certainly feel very uncomfortable." Moreover, insects may die after feeding on nectar containing herbicides, or suffer brain damage and become disoriented. Returning to the human living environment, when you go to the mountains or industrial roads, the air is filled with herbicides everywhere, so going to exercise equals going to inhale toxins.

Doubts About Herbicide Use Scope - Feng Hai-tung: Will Review Whether to Cancel

Kuo Hua-jen said that the herbicide use scope announced by the Council of Agriculture should be more cautious. For example, it allows herbicides to be used on the non-cultivated farmland weed Mikania micrantha, but some Mikania micrantha grows at forest edges, and using herbicides may also damage the forest ecosystem; there are also doubts about allowing herbicides for the aquatic weed water hyacinth. To deal with water hyacinth by applying herbicides in water, these water hyacinths still must be salvaged after they die, so it would be better to salvage them directly from the beginning without using herbicides, avoiding damage to the aquatic ecology.

In response, Feng Hai-tung said that some open pesticide uses were applied for very early on, almost more than 20 years ago, and some herbicides have long ceased to be used by operators. For herbicides for alien species such as Mikania micrantha, early registration and use had their own temporal context. Now in farmland, in fact, no one has used them for a long time either, so for those herbicides that have no need for use and are not used by anyone, it will also be reviewed whether to directly cancel the herbicide.

In recent years, the Society of Wilderness has actively promoted herbicide self-governance ordinances in various counties and cities. At present, besides Yilan County and Taipei City, which already have self-governance ordinances, Hsinchu County and City, Miaoli County and Kaohsiung City have also completed petitions, and recently the draft in the Kaohsiung City Council has entered the council agenda.

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