Months after it was called out for spraying synthetic pesticides in parks, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation says it’s taking steps to phase out their use.

“We recognize the importance of minimizing the use of herbicides and pesticides wherever possible while also ensuring that our management practices are effective in controlling invasive species and supporting the long-term health of our natural landscapes,” Commissioner Susan Slawson said at a City Council hearing on April 1.

City Council passed the Healthy Outdoor Public Spaces (HOPS) Law in 2020, forbidding the use of synthetic herbicides on city-owned land. These man-made chemicals are a type of pesticide used to manage and kill weeds. But health advocates, councilmembers and scientists say they pose significant risks to the people and animals exposed to them.

Sue Buck, deputy commissioner of operations for Philadelphia Parks & Recreation (PPR), said at the hearing that the agency won’t apply herbicides on ballfields and will spray a minimum of 100 feet away from play equipment instead of 50 feet.

Councilmembers Cindy Bass, who authored the HOPS law, and Jim Harrity thanked the department for its commitments.

The law prohibited the application of synthetic herbicides on public spaces within three years after the law took effect in 2021. But Parks & Recreation data shows the department significantly increased its use of pesticides in green spaces, including in Wissahickon Valley Park. A few products contained glyphosate and 2,4-D, a key ingredient in Agent Orange.

Members of City Council, including Harrity and Bass, pressed the department to start abiding by the HOPS Law in a June 2025 hearing, where Slawson promised to make progress over the next year.

Kris Soffa said on behalf of Toxic Free Philly — a coalition of Philadelphians who have long advocated for the ban of toxic herbicides in the city — that she is glad to see the department commit to new practices after five years. Then-mayor Jim Kenney refused to sign the HOPS Law after it unanimously passed in the council. Kathryn Ott Lovell served as the parks and rec commissioner until 2023.

“We recognize that it takes time to make such a big move like that. We’re a big city, and people are accustomed to doing things the way they’ve been doing them. Little by little, we’re going see a clean, healthy future for everyone,” Soffa said.

Commitments

In addition to avoiding spraying on ballfields, PPR will extend spray restrictions from 50 to 100 feet around play equipment and food-producing garden areas starting in 2026, the department said in a memo to Harrity and the Local.

PPR said it will first consider nonchemical alternatives before applying any herbicides to public spaces and track the effectiveness of these methods. Alternatives include mowing, trimming, hand weeding and mulching. The new commitments apply to contractors working on parks as well, the memo states.

To carry out the more time-consuming mechanical approaches, PPR will become more reliant on seasonal staff and will purchase more string trimmers to handle the weeds, Buck told the Local.

PPR stated that it will spray herbicides only when mechanical approaches are infeasible or insufficient to maintaining the safety of park users and the health of the ecosystem, the memo states. The department may need to spray herbicides to clear vegetation away from road signs and walking paths, as well as control toxic or hazardous plants such as poison ivy, poison oak, stinging nettle or giant hogweed.

The HOPS law allows PPR to use synthetic herbicides for these uses with approval from the Department of Public Health. Buck said PPR collaborates with the department but does not run all herbicide applications by them.

The department will continue to do its annual training of pesticide technicians and supply employees with the necessary personal protective equipment to meet “industry and regulatory standards,” Buck said. Warning signs will be posted in effected areas for up 48 hours after being the herbicides are applied, Buck said. The HOPS Law requires 72 hours.

Buck said it’s important to implement these practices for the safety of Philadelphians.

“Being a parent myself of kids who use the facilities, I understand where parents and advocates are coming from and the concerns. [By] meeting with the council and community members, we try to come up with commitments where people feel safer using park land,” she told the Local.

A public health issue

Previous studies have linked exposure to certain pesticides with asthma, cancer, respiratory diseases among children, birth defects and other health conditions. Herbicides are particularly hazardous for people who come in direct contact with the substances through their skin.

“Anything to avoid people’s contact with pesticides in general is good,” Lianne Sheppard, a professor in the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences department at the University of Washington, said in response to PPR’s commitments. “Pesticides are there to kill things. None of them are good for human health.”

Sheppard co-wrote a 2019 scientific analysis that found people with high exposures to glyphosate-based herbicides have a higher increased risk of developing a type of cancer called non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Glyphosate has been found in products used by PPR, including the weed killer Roundup. The maker of Roundup is facing lawsuits across the country from plaintiffs arguing the product caused their cancer. While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has determined the chemical to be safe for human health, the World Health Organization has determined glyphosate to be “probably carcinogenic to humans.”

At a recent symposium in Seattle, experts recently called on U.S. and European regulators to further restrict the use of the chemical, citing the amount of evidence that links it to health problems. Yet a month earlier, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aiming to boost the domestic production of glyphosate-based herbicides.

When asked about specific products PPR will use, Buck said that information wasn’t readily available to her. The list of products the department has sprayed in the past is public record.

The Parks and Recreation Department told the Local in the fall that the HOPS Law is difficult to implement because organic pesticides and mechanical methods haven’t been as effective in controlling invasive species, which grow rapidly and threaten the biodiversity in Philadelphia ecosystems.

And while experts have an improving understanding of the health harms pesticides cause, it is difficult — if not impossible — to connect a person’s health outcome to their pesticide exposure, Sheppard said.

“When somebody gets an adverse health outcome, we never know for sure what exactly caused it, unless something is very, very immediate, and most health impacts are not,” she said. “And cancer, in particular, usually whatever exposure you have, it can take decades before the response manifests itself.”

Cancer survivors spoke at the hearing in June to urge PPR to phase out its use of herbicides. Soffa said applying toxic herbicides takes away the pleasure and purpose of the Philadelphia park system.

“It’s very hard to argue for poisoning us and our land and our water with our money, without our knowledge and permission,” she said.

Harrity told the Local that he’s happy with the Parks and Rec department’s progress, especially because these practices will better protect kids that play on ballfields and recreation centers.

“It’s one less thing a parent has to worry about. You don’t want to be worried about something that’s invisible,” he said.

Abby Weiss is an environmental reporter for the Local and a Report for America corps member. She can be reached at abby@chestnuthilllocal.com.