COUNCIL bosses in Wyre Forest are facing fresh calls to stop using a controversial weed killer which has been labelled as potentially carcinogenic.

Two motions have been submitted by opposition parties in the district to next week’s full council meeting demanding the Conservative administration bans the use of products which contain Glyphosate in the wake of a landmark US court case.

In America, a judge ruled that agricultural firm Monsanto had been responsible for school grounds keeper DeWayne Johnson’s terminal cancer and awarded him $289m in damages. Monsanto is set to lodge an appeal against the decision.

Labour group leader Nigel Knowles has previously called for a ban on the products and he has repeated his demands in an official motion.

He said: “At the last meeting on July 25, I asked the cabinet member for operational services (Councillor Rebecca Vale) to stop using Glyphosate until the court case in California had been settled. The case was won by DeWayne Johnson.

“It is now imperative the council stops using Glyphosate and puts the health and safety of its workforce first and ceases to risk damage to employees.

“We therefore demand the use of Glyphosate is immediately stopped.”

In a joint submission to the council by the Independent and Liberal Democrat groups, they commended an agreement reached between the authority’s parks section and the Friends of St George’s Park not to use Glyphosate weed killer at the facility.

They asked that the “council resolves to investigate the implications of potentially ceasing the use of this weed killer in parks and open spaces under our control and discuss its use with friends of parks groups where appropriate”.

Previously, Councillor Vale said the authority took the health and safety of employees very seriously.

She also said the products used by the council had been cleared by the Health and Safety Executive and the EU but added they would continue to monitor the situation and act accordingly if guidance was changed.