From David Telford

Thursday, 27 October 2011

Why, have you suffered ill effects? It's really unlikely in the scheme of things.

Sounds all a bit ambulance chasing to me.

From Richard Prince

Thursday, 27 October 2011

Nice one CMBC if it's true. Paraquat is linked to the development of Parkinson's disease in operatives who use it and those people should be the ones worrying most. The lethal dose is pretty high: around 2 grammes for an average sized man so the concentrations in the soil are probably too low to cause much worry to pitch users later in the season, I certainly wouldn't want to be exposed to a fresh line marked with it. I assume it's basically used as a cost saving measure: the grass stays dead for a long time and so the lines don't need to be remarked.

From Cllr Tim Swift

Sunday, 30 October 2011

Having checked this with officers, I am informed that Paraquat has not been used in Calderdale for at least five years, and indeed has been banned and removed from the approved list of products more than three years ago.

The officer concerned tells me that, "We use a product called Finale from a company called Sherriff Amenity, which we mix with sports line marking paint." You can find out more about Finale from the company's web site.

This answers the immediate concerns, but I notice doesn't completely respond to Michelle's initial questions and I will check back on this.