New pesticides policy 'downplays the health risks'

18 December 2025

Martin HeathBuckinghamshire political reporter

News image — Judith Heinemann believes pesticides may have contributed to her cancer

Martin Heath/BBC Judith Heinemann with long brown hair, looking at the camera and wearing a blue V-neck jumper over a white top. There is a green scarf around her neck. There are trees and a hedge behind her (in her own garden). — Judith Heinemann believes pesticides may have contributed to her cancer

A campaigner says a council's draft new policy on the use of pesticides does not go far enough.

Milton Keynes City Council's policy includes reducing the use of herbicides near shops and only spraying play areas during school terms.

But Judith Heinemann from the Pesticide Free Milton Keynes Action Group said while that represented a "huge step forward", it downplayed the health risks of pesticides.

Milton Keynes City Council said its policy aimed to minimise and regulate the use of substances that had potential to impact the wider environment.

Ms Heinemann said that, despite evidence of a link between cancer and herbicides containing the chemical glyphosate, the policy contains "hardly any mention of that at all".

She was also concerned about the omission of schools from the policy.

Her petition to stop the use of pesticides altogether in the city has 26,250 signatures, but she hopes that the council will work with her group to improve the policy.

"These risks are well known and they should be included," she said.

Martin Heath/BBC A grass-covered roundabout on a main road, with a green tractor pulling a weeding device. A man in yellow PPE can be seen to the left of the picture with a spraying tool. There are road cones around the edge of the roundabout and a three-storey blue office building to the left. — The policy includes using mechanical sweeping to reduce the need for herbicides on Milton Keynes's grid roads

Jennifer Wilson-Marklew, the council's cabinet member for public realm, said: "The policy does talk very loosely about what the science shows.

"However, it's not a scientific paper, it's a policy which will then inform what we do across the city."

She added: "We will share the policy with schools. However, most schools manage their own weed management."

Sam Read/BBC Jennifer Wilson-Marklew with medium-length orange hair looking to the left of the camera and wearing a green coat over a green and brown top. She has a small pendant on a necklace around her neck and is standing in front of brick-built houses with planters on the exterior ledges. — Jennifer Wilson-Marklew, from Milton Keynes City Council, said the policy talks loosely about what the science shows but it is not a scientific paper

Judith Heinemann A red mini-tractor being driven by a man in yellow and orange PPE. There is a yellow barrel attached to the back of the vehicle. It is driving past a green hedge, with a block-paved drive to the left and the edge of a two-storey house. — Weedkiller is sprayed in residential areas by mini-tractors

Ms Heinemann and her late husband spent a lot of time enjoying nature around Milton Keynes.

And she believes traces of pesticides in the outdoor environment of the city may have contributed to her husband's death and her own battle with cancer.

"I can't say that the causal link [with pesticides] can be proven definitively but the evidence on this chemical toxic cocktail that we're faced with on a daily basis in our environment is that it has to stop."

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