People before Pesticides - Ban Urged On Lawn Chemicals

Commons committee to propose act for reducing health threat of pesticides (POISONS)

 

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Subject:   Ban Urged On Lawn Chemicals (POISONS)
Date:       Wed, 17 May 2000 10:39:33 -0400
From:        Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)

To:     Lyndon Hawkins <hawkins@empm.cdpr.ca.gov>
          Senior Research Scientist
          State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation - Integrated Pest Management

Dear Lyndon, I thought you might like to read an article from The Globe And Mail entitled: Ban urged on lawn chemicals - Commons committee to propose act for reducing health threat of pesticides (POISONS).  By ANNE McILROY - Parliamentary Bureau Chief - Tuesday, May 16, 2000.  

Ottawa -- Lawn chemicals and other pesticides intended for "cosmetic" purposes would be banned under a proposal to be unveiled by the House of Commons environment committee today.  

The committee, dominated by Liberals, is calling for urgent action to reduce or phase out pesticides because of their potential threat to human health. It recommends creating a new pest-control act that would prohibit the registration and reregistration of pesticides intended for cosmetic uses, sources say. This would apply to pesticides used to beautify lawns and gardens.  

Health Minister Allan Rock has already testified before the committee and indicated that he is prepared to bring in new legislation. It is not clear if the government will go as far as the report recommends.  

Sources on the committee say they want many lawn and garden pesticides banned or halted  under a moratorium. But some concede it may be technically difficult for the government to do  so in legislation that would withstand a legal challenge from pesticide manufacturers.  

"We have got to stop using this stuff where we don't have to. I mean, they are spraying these  chemicals around playgrounds and schools," one source said.  

Pesticides automatically must be reregistered with the federal government every five years, said Julia Langer, an expert on pesticides with the World Wildlife Fund. If Ottawa follows the recommendation of the committee, it could mean that the pesticides Canadians now use to make lawns green would not be available in the future, and that new ones would not be approved for sale.  

At their party's convention in March, Liberal delegates voted in favour of banning the cosmetic uses of pesticides.  

The lengthy report contains dozens of recommendations.  

The recommendations are designed to get Canadians to start viewing pesticides in the same light as lead, tobacco or other substances that can damage health. But Canadian Alliance MPs who sat on the committee are already characterizing its sweeping recommendations as hysterical and say they will release their own report.  

"The report we will be releasing will hopefully provide some balance to the committee report,  which in my view is unbalanced and based more on hysteria than on sound science," said Rahim Jaffer, the party's environment critic.  

The Alliance's dissenting report is expected to argue that pesticides provide important benefits  for farmers and home owners. The party will argue that pest-control products increase the esthetic value of lands, whether on private property or on golf courses, and are necessary in a modern world.  

The committee report is expected to focus more on pesticides used in the urban areas rather than for agricultural purposes.  

The issue is controversial.  

The city of Halifax has been criticized for its program to become the first Canadian city to ban lawn and garden chemicals.  

The move has delighted people who say exposure to herbicides make them ill.  

But some landscapers and lawn-care companies bitterly oppose the proposed bylaw, saying the products are safe when used correctly.  

A report on pesticides done for regional council in March said about 5 per cent of the 300,000 people in the huge municipality around Halifax experience allergic reactions or flu like symptoms when exposed to common lawn and garden chemicals.  

Well Lyndon, some people want to ban your "registered" POISONS even if there are no alternatives - but, there are many safe and far more effective alternatives.  Only the POISON "industry"  - and a few "regulators" continue to say "registered" POISONS are "safe" when used as directed - I guess that is your idea of "sound science".  When did the delightful little dandelion become a deadly enemy?  

Respectfully,  Stephen L. Tvedten

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