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Sean Scanlon, executive director of the Tweed New Haven Airport Authority

NEW HAVEN —  Tweed New Haven Regional Airport has stopped using glyphosate, known commercially by the Monsanto trade name Roundup, as part of its federally-mandated efforts to control vegetation along the airport fenceline, according to Tweed Authority Executive Director Sean Scanlon.

Tweed "will not be using glyphosate going forward," Scanlon told the Tweed New Haven Airport Authority in a meeting this week.

The decision to stop using glyphosate, which Scanlon said had already been implemented, followed a June 28 community meeting at Nathan Hale School in which a resident asked what airport workers were spraying along the airport fence, which in several locations border and cross wetlands.

Airport neighbors, many of them opposed to Tweed expansion, have continued to hammer on the issue in Facebook posts during the weeks since in both the "East Haven Politics" and "Keep Tweed Small" Facebook groups, voicing concerns about the health effects of the chemical.

"There is a responsibility that we have here at the airport to maintain the fenceline. It's a security issue that we're mandated to do," Scanlon told the authority in the authority's regular monthly meeting Wednesday. 

"We use a DEEP-licensed applicator for all of the applications that we do here at the airport," Scanlon said. "However, it was brought to my attention in looking up ... what they were using that day, that we were using something called glyphosate, which is publicly known as Roundup.

"That was news to me and as a result of that ... we have since told the applicator that they are no longer able to use that here on our property or in the surrounding area," Scanlon said. "We have discontinued that completely.

"I asked them if if there was a more sustainable alternative that could do the job that we're mandated to do, and the answer was yes," Scanlon said. "So, going forward, we will not be using glyphosate anymore at the airport, and that was effective immediately upon me finding out" that it was being used and that an alternative was available.

Scanlon did not immediately know the name of the herbicide that will be used instead.

Tweed neighbors noted the decision.

"Proud of people: Tweed Airport has agreed with CT DEEP to stop using Roundup," wrote East Haven resident and anti-Tweed growth activist Lorena Venegas in a post on the "Keep Tweed Small" Facebook page. "That is a win for the community. ... You make a difference. Your presence at 6/28/22 Nathan Hale mtg escalated this issue front and center!"

Rachel Heerema, co-founder of 10,000 Hawks, an environmental group that also opposes Tweed expansion, said, "We know better and we can and should do better."

The U.S. Environmental Protection agency has pronounced Roundup safe though a debate about its safety continues. 

In June, a federal appellate court invalidated the EPA’s favorable human health safety assessment for glyphosate, ruling that the EPA did not properly follow scientific guidelines when it determined glyphosate was not carcinogenic, according to The Guardian.

The court said EPA officials discounted several important studies and that “most studies EPA examined indicated that human exposure to glyphosate is associated with an at least somewhat increased risk of developing" Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

The court found that the EPA ignored expert advice from scientific advisers, and used “inconsistent reasoning” to conclude that the chemical poses “no risks to human health," the Guardian reported. Overall, the EPA determination that glyphosate was “not likely to be carcinogenic” was “flawed” in multiple ways, the court said.

Mark Zaretsky, a Chicago native and longtime New Haven resident, is an award-winning reporter and music writer for the New Haven Register and Hearst Connecticut Media. His beats include East Haven and Branford, regional issues and occasional blues and roots music stories. He also makes a point of knowing where all the good ethnic and hole-in-the-wall restaurants, bars and bakeries are -- and is an unapologetic Cubs, Bears, Blackhawks and Bulls fan. In addition to his work as a journalist, Zaretsky is a front man for The Cobalt Rhythm Kings and The Chicago Dawgs and occasionally performs with Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Mark Naftalin and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band.