A RESIDENT from Croesyceiliog is concerned after seeing a controversial, but legal, herbicide being sprayed on paths around the estate where he lives.

Pesticide Glyphosate is licensed for use by the EU Health and Food Commissioner, but it’s currently at the centre of a dispute among politicians, regulators and researchers following contradictory findings on the carcinogenic risks of the chemical.

In June, the EU executive offered a limited 12 to 18 month licence renewal of Glyphosate to allow time for further scientific study.

Terry Banfield, 63, of Cardigan Crescent, saw a Torfaen council worker on a motorised buggy with a tank on the back spraying the path around his estate a couple of weeks ago when he was taking her daughter to school.

Torfaen County Borough Council said it is using Glyphosate.

Mr Banfield, a support worker who works with people with disabilities, said: “Glyphosate is very controversial.

"I object very strongly to the council using this weed killer on our estates and putting our health at risk.

“Why are they spraying it around the estate, especially when the children are going to school?

“Some studies have shown it’s dangerous to young children and wildlife – I thought the council policy is to protect the environment, not to destroy it.

"They don't tell us when it's happening either.”

A Torfaen County Borough Council spokesman said: “Glysophate is a herbicide used legally by the council and council contractors to kill weeds on council owned land.

“It is licensed for use by the EU Health and Food Commissioner.”

Despite being licensed for use by the EU, the weed killer is at the centre of a dispute and, in March, Brighton and Hove Council voted to ban the use of Glyphosate for weed and pest control.

In June, a London council, Hammersmith and Fulham, announced it was going to stop spraying its parks with Glyphosate-based herbicides following 500 people signing a petition urging the council to do so.

However, an analysis from earlier this year by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Health Organisation found that Glyphosate was unlikely to pose a carcinogenic risk to humans from exposure through the diet.

A few weeks ago, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said that Glyphosate is not likely carcinogenic to humans.

This analysis contradicted an assessment by the World Health Organisation cancer agency from last year, which found that the herbicide was probably carcinogenic to humans.