Governor Janet Mills has vetoed a bill that would have prohibited the aerial spraying of glyphosate and other synthetic herbicides in forestry applications. Backed by health and environmental groups, the bill was strongly opposed by the forest products industry.
Glyphosate is the main chemical in synthetic herbicides that can be toxic to animals and humans. It’s been declared a “probable carcinogen” by the World Health Organization and has been banned in ten countries as well as by states like Vermont and by municipalities, including the town of Allagash, where Senate President Troy Jackson lives. Jackson was the chief sponsor the bill who says with this veto, Gov. Mills should stop calling herself an environmentalist.
“The science across the country, across the world, says that this stuff kills people, kills wildlife,” Jackson says. “And all that it is, is a giveaway to the large landowners so they can maximize their profits off the lives of the people in Maine and the wildlife in Maine.”
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