Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
San Francisco panel narrows pesticide rules, adopts time-limited reduced‑risk list after heated public comment
Summary
After hours of public testimony and technical briefing, the San Francisco Commission on the Environment adopted an amended 2016 reduced-risk pesticide list that tightens use restrictions on Tier 1 herbicides, adds contractor and posting requirements, and requires staff to report back to the policy committee before the commission revisits the list on March 22, 2016.
The San Francisco Commission on the Environment voted late Tuesday to adopt an amended 2016 Reduced‑Risk Pesticide List (RRPL) that places stronger limits on the city's use of the most hazardous herbicides while directing staff to return with implementation details before the commission's March meeting.
Director Deborah Raffel told the commission the packet before members is “not a list” alone but a set of methodologies and safeguards developed over years: a combination of prioritization, restrictions and training to reduce pesticide exposures while preserving agencies’ ability to respond to public‑health emergencies. IPM Program Manager Chris Geiger said the city’s tiered screening system has removed the most problematic products over time and that the new packet “spells out in much greater detail than we used to where they can still use these products.”
Geiger highlighted changes staff recommended after the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified glyphosate as a probable carcinogen in 2015. “When we learned last March that the International Agency for Research on Cancer had categorized this as a…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
