Pesticides: Why Take The Risk Of Using Them?

        Subject: Pesticides: Why Take The Risk Of Using Them?
            Date:    Fri, 12 Jul 2002 11:37:10 -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 an article dated: FRIDAY JULY 12, 2002 from: NEPEAN THIS WEEK entitled: Pesticides: Why take the risk of using them? By Alex Cullen.

Earlier this month the Canadian Public Health Association, composed of health officials and organizations across the country, adopted at its Annual Meeting a resolution supporting municipal campaigns to regulate the cosmetic use of pesticides, as a means of better protecting human health (especially children).

Initiative
This follows another initiative announced also in July by the Government of Quebec that would, over the course of three years, see the cosmetic use of pesticides banned on all public and private property in Quebec.

There the Provincial Minister making the announcement said: "There is more to fear from cancer than from dandelions." Strong words, but indicative of a growing trend of oncern over the health risks posed by chemical pesticides.

Public education
Here in the City of Ottawa the use of pesticides has been banned from city property, and a public education campaign on safer alternatives to chemical pesticides is being promoted by the city (for more information check the city's web site at www.ottawa.ca, or call 724-4227).

Why this concern?
According to the Ontario Public Health Association, a growing number of reports published in scientific and medical journals associate specific pesticides with adverse acute and long-term effects on human health.

Immediate effects from acute pesticide exposure, says the OPHA, include vomiting, eye irritation, coughing, nausea, breathing difficulties and blurred vision.

Chronic, or long-term, health effects, according to the OPHA, include birth defects, negative pregnancy outcome (e.g. stillbirth), non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, soft tissue sarcoma, child-hood leukemia, learning disabilities and neurological effects.

The Ontario Public Health Association recognizes (as do other health organizations, like the Ontario College of Family Physicians) that at present there insufficient conclusive evidence to prove a causal relationship between certain pesticides and human health.
Evidence
However, the OPHA does believe there is sufficient evidence regarding the health risks associated with pesticides to justify invoking the "precautionary principle" - that is, to avoid those circumstances where there are reasonable and probable grounds that a health hazard exists.

The ability of municipalities to regulate pesticide use on the basis of the "precautionary principle" was recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada in its Town of Hudson landmark ruling last year.

This has led the OPHA, the Ontario College of Family Physicians and now the CPHA to support municipal campaigns to regulate the cosmetic use of pesticides in urban areas.

This matter becomes even more important given that the bulk of Canadians (more than 80 per cent) live in densely populated urban areas.

Irony
And the irony is that much of the cosmetic effect that chemical pesticides seek to achieve is also attainable through the use of safer alternatives, through organic gardening techniques and the like.

The question becomes, given the mounting evidence of these health risks associated with pesticides and the availability of safer alternatives - why take the risk?

Councillor Alex Cullen
City of Ottawa
Ward 7 Bay
Tel: (613) 580-2477
Fax: 613-580-2517
Email: Alex.Cullen@ottawa.ca
110 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa ON
K1P 1J1

Well Mr. Helliker, Why indeed? I have posted a free pest control book on the web that uses safe and far more effective alternatives, it is entitled: THE BUG STOPS HERE. You can download it for free at: http://www.thebestcontrol.com .

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi once noted: "Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought."

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