We Must Stop Using Toxic Weed Killer, Seven Gen Student Says

Special to Emmaus Patch by Julia Roman

Picture yourself as a baby deer, running through the forest during late winter. The food source is extremely scarce and you don’t have any food, so you and your mother deer are looking for some berries to stock up on for the rest of the cold season.

After a long search with no signs of any food, you and your mother have lost your way and are stuck in the middle of nowhere. You realize that there is no hope until you see the river.

You reluctantly take a sip, not knowing that the water is poisoned with highly toxic weed killer. All that poison is taking over your tiny little body.

Now, imagine yourself dying from the deadly weed killer.

We can prevent this from happening to anyone else if we stop using weed killer. There are many other organic and fool proof replacements. Toxic weed killer should not be used by any American families. If we stop using toxic weed killer, we might be saving another deer’s life.

This young deer is too helpless and weak. The baby’s body can’t take all the dangerous chemicals we put into weed killer. Toxic weed killer kills not only weeds and animal life but human cells and cell DNA. If weed killer can kill a grown man, imagine what it can do to a baby deer, so small, so young. This baby deer has a close to 20 percent chance of surviving, not even. Because of our choices, this baby deer might die. I believe that toxic weed killer is a cruel and terrible way to kill weeds. 

What if you sprayed some weed killer on your lawn thinking that it will kill your weeds and go away? Then, what if later, your dog or someone else’s dog ate some of your grass or licked the ground? With the toxic weed killer on the grass, this dog has a good chance of dying. What if this was not a dog but a little puppy? Puppies are smaller than dogs and much smaller than a deer. So, the puppy would have a better chance of dying.

As sad as this is, you should know that this is our faults. If the weed killer seeps down into our underground water systems, it poisons our drinking water, especially for people who get their drinking water from wells. Glyphosate is a common ingredient in toxic weed killers. Glyphosate is a very toxic chemical.  If we stopped putting glyphosate in most weed killers we would be making it less toxic and safer to use.

If you have leftover weed killer, take it to the nearest household hazardous waste disposal center. If you have an empty weed killer bottle, follow these directions below to properly dispose of the bottle:

1. Fill bottle with cold and clean water (do not dump in sink!)
2. Dump in trash can
3. Repeat this two more times
4. Recycle when finished

If you still have weeds you want to kill, use these all-natural replacements:

1. White vinegar
2. Boiling hot water

If you rather not spray something on your lawn, follow these simple and quick steps to pull weeds properly:

1. Use hot water to pour on weeds
2. Wait till ground softens
3. Tug weeds out of the ground (make sure to get the roots!)

Try using these replacement options instead of weed killer. These weed killer substitutes are all-natural and much safer than original weed killer. I believe that if we stop using weed killer, we will be making our world a better place.

Julia Roman, of Quakertown, is a currently a 4th grade student at Seven Generations Charter School in Emmaus. Roman's class has been studying household hazardous waste and the students wrote opinion articles on the topic.