A school district in Contra Costa County has banned the chemical found in a common weedkiller – that same weedkiller that many people say gave them cancer.

Just last month, a jury awarded a Livermore couple $2 billion for this reason. For one East Bay community, the decision was easy.

The proposed ban was added to the school board’s agenda after many parents and community members spoke up. They emailed the district about their concerns about glyphosate, which is found in Roundup and other weedkillers.

Nicole Harlin has two young children in the Mount Diablo Unified School District. She was relieved to learn that glyphosate will be banned on school property.

“It’s scary because there are so many things that you don’t know could cause something until this happens and why even risk it?” said Harlin. “You know, you get it out of your own house, so why not get it out of your schools too?”

The school board voted unanimously that any remaining glyphosate products like Roundup be immediately removed from all district sites. The district says it has not used it since October of last year.

Sheila Hill has been a garden educator in the district for the last eight years.

“There are a growing amount of studies that Roundup is a carcinogen. It’s not safe. It’s an endocrine disruptor. It’s definitely not something that should be used around children,” said Hill.

Hill hopes the district will adopt organic and nontoxic methods to kill weeds.

Last August, a San Francisco jury ordered Monsanto to pay $289 million to former school groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson, who is dying of cancer. The jury ruled that the company’s Roundup weed killer contributed to his disease.

Johnson was the first to go to trial among hundreds filed in state and federal courts.

“I support the ban because my kids play sports all the time,” said Concord parent Scott Taylor. “It may not just be the school district, it could be anywhere.”

Monsanto, which is owned by Bayer, has denied that there is a link between glyphosate and cancer. The EPA recently said there are no risks to public health when glyphosate is used in accordance with its current label.

Recently Bayer said it would spend more than $5 billion in weed killer research.