Pesticide Use Unnecessary For Healthy Garden

Subject: Pesticide Use Unnecessary For Healthy Garden
Date:     Wed, 29 May 2002 16:58:11 -0400
From:      Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)

To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
Director, State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation

Dear Mr. Helliker, I thought you might like to read the following article from the Danish Environment, Internet Edition 4, June 1997 entitled: The Healthy Garden.

It's time to start using hoes and other alternatives again in Danish gardens, parks and sports fields. The use of pesticides is totally unnecessary.

In 1996, Danish household gardeners purchased 23 tonnes of chemical poison to combat unwanted animals, plants and microorganisms in their gardens according to figures from the Danish Agrochemical Association.

In addition, there is a considerable consumption of moss eradicator. The Danish EPA's statistics for 1995 show that 222 tonnes of iron sulphate were used to eradicate moss in Danish lawns during the course of the year.

Gardeners use these poisonous agents where the carrots are dug, the apples are picked and the children play.

At the same time, herbicide residues have been detected in the groundwater under urban areas such as Hvidovre - residues that obviously can not stem from agricultural use of the pesticides on fields. This poses a threat to drinking water supplies as virtually all tap water in Denmark derives from groundwater.

This is the background for the Danish EPA's new booklet "The chemical-free garden". The booklet provides good advice and inspiration to the general public on how to cultivate gardens without the use of pesticides.

"There are more than a million household gardens in Denmark and it is therefore of great environmental significance to start a dialogue with the owners. Even though awareness of the detrimental effects of pesticides has in creased in recent years, too much chemical poison is still used in household gardens. More over, this consumption cannot be defended on the grounds that the user has to live off the produce of the soil, and it often does more harm than good. The pesticides have a wide spectrum of action and hence also affect useful organisms," says Lars Fock of the Danish EPA's Pesticide Division.

He adds that the booklet, which is specifically directed at Danish gardeners, is the first in a series of initiatives from the Danish EPA aimed at increasing awareness on the use of pesticides in residential and recreational areas.

One of the problems with pesticide consumption in Danish gardens is the very uneven distribution of their use.

"It is far from all household gardeners that spray their lawns or roses. As a consequence, consumption can be great among those gardeners who do use the pesticides. Herein lies a possible threat to the environment," says Lars Fock, adding that some of the agents are also hazardous for useful animals.

According to new figures from the Danish Agrochemical Association, total consumption of pesticides in household gardens did not increase between 1995 and 1996. On the other hand, though, there has been a great shift in the type of pesticides used. For example, while fungicides are about to become a thing of the past in gardens, the consumption of weed killers is in creasing.

In order to reach as many concerned gardeners as possible, the Danish EPA's booklet has been distributed both in the Consumer Agency of Denmark's booklet series and in "Haven", the magazine of the Danish gardening society (De Danske Haveselskaber). The society, which contributed ideas to the booklet, welcomes the initiative.

"We have long urged gardeners to leave pesti cides on the shelf, and it is quite clear that they have listened. Not just our campaign, but the whole environmental debate has had a marked effect in household gardens, where pesticide consumption is now lower than it has been for many years," says Jens Povl Andersen of the Society.

Since 1986, the basis for the work of the Danish EPA's Pesticide Division has been the Ministry of Environment and Energy's Action Plan on Pesticides. The Action Plan, which expired at the end of 1996, mainly focused on reducing agricultural consumption of pesticides. In contrast, the latest initiatives are directed more broadly against all pesticide users.

"Last year, the Danish EPA conducted a survey among the country's 275 municipalities. Of the 213 municipalities that answered the questionnaire, 80 percent already had an action plan for reducing pesticide consumption. Moreover, a survey conducted this March by the General Workers Union in Denmark showed that 30 municipalities had stopped using pesticides completely," says Lars Fock.

Odense Municipality is one of those that have taken the lead and implemented a complete ban on the use of chemical pesticides in green areas such as parks, footpaths and sports fields. The municipality is thus able to provide 2,100 hectares of proof that pesticide-free gardening is a viable proposition. Moreover, the inhabitants of the municipality are pleased with the Chief Municipal Gardener's work, even though the standard in the parks is not the same as it was previously.

"A large part of the project has involved dissemination of information, helping the local population to rediscover the beauty of nature in the no longer completely weed-free parks," says Per Glad, the Chief Municipal Gardener of Odense.

It is especially when weeds have to be eradicated that household gardeners turn to chemicals. Lars Fock therefore encourages gardeners to instead turn to the hoe, weeding knife and weed burner.

"The problem is easy to solve, though, for example at Odense Stadium, which has to live up to the standard of the other stadiums in Denmark. At regular intervals we therefore send all the workmen in our Parks and Roads Department to the stadium to dig up the dandelions," tells Per Glad.

"Both the City Council and inhabitants support the initiative, and I receive many questions from inhabitants and from other municipal authorities who would like to have the recipe for pesticide-free maintenance of gardens and parks," he adds.

"Awareness is clearly increasing that the alternative to pesticide-free maintenance of household gardens and parks is pesticide residues in our groundwater and hence our tap water," concludes Per Glad.

By By Lotte Bjarke, Journalist Photo: Steen Agger/Biofoto and Ulla Koustrup Translation: David I. Barry
------------------------------------------------------------------------

A selection of good advice from the Danish EPA's new booklet "The chemical-free garden":

Stress your weeds. With couch grass, for example, weed each time there are 3-5 blades on the plants. Eventually, the couch grass will simply give up.

Sow ground cover to exclude weeds. Strawberry plants form a thick carpet that keeps weeds at bay and looks nice.

Cover the earth. Withered leaves and weed waste keep the soil moist, fertilize the plants and prevent new weeds growing.

Mix the plants. They benefit each other. Some secrete substances that keep pests at bay, others smell so pleasant that they attract bees and other useful insects.

Strengthen the lawn. Cut the grass four centimetres above the ground. This strengthens the roots of the grass plants so that they win the fight against moss.

Invite useful insects into the garden. Ladybirds, green lacewings and buzzing flies live off aphids, but they are susceptible to insecticides.

Shower aphids away. Aphids can be washed away using a hard spray from a hose pipe.

Well Mr. Helliker, Imagine that, those darn Danes are "muscling in on your territory". The use of your "registered" pesticide POISONS is totally unnecessary. And we both know it. Only you will not allow the use of safe and far more effective alternatives to actually control pest problems. One can only wonder why?

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