Stop Pesticide Use, Concerned Citizens Demand In March
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Stop Pesticide Use, Concerned Citizens Demand In March
Date:
Thu, 18 Jul 2002 13:10:04 -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
cc: Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov
Dear Mr. Helliker, I thought you might like to read an article dated: July 18, 2002 from the Charlottetown Guardian entitled: Stop Poisoning, Stop Pesticide Use, Concerned Citizens Demand In March By Mike Carson.
SUMMERSIDE - Calling for an end to the use of pesticides, nearly 40 people of all ages, representing a variety of environmental and concerned citizens' groups, marched through Summerside Wednesday to the offices of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
The march was organized following the recent fish kill in the Wilmot River that claimed nearly 5,000 fish, mostly trout.
Outfitted with drums, bells, signs and a megaphone, protesters chanted "pesticides must go" and garnered some support from motorists and pedestrians.
Their route took them right through the centre of the Downtown Business Association's annual Lobster Carnival sidewalk sale where shoppers appeared mostly stunned and confused over what was happening.
Prior to the march, the protesters gathered in the parking lot outside Jubilee Theatre under the watchful eyes of waterfront security and city police. A few interested tourists came over to the protesters to inquire what was happening.
On the steps of DFO in Summerside, march organizer and shellfisherman Manny Gallant is convinced pesticides had a role to play in the Wilmot River fish kill and he is concerned over the future of his livelihood.
He said there was a kill in 1993 and pesticides were never deemed to be the cause even though there was heavy spraying that year.
"They were spraying really bad and as far as a lot of fishermen were concerned it was pesticides that killed the oysters," Gallant said.
"We don't know what it did this time. It's the Wilmot River we're talking about. It's one of our main rivers. The pesticides going down the river from the fresh water, I'm sure it doesn't stop at the salt water line. I'm sure it keeps going. And it keeps going out onto the shellfish too. I am scared for the future."
Gallant said government can make all the rules and pass all the legislation it wants to but that will not solve the problem.
"I really believe that poison is poison, that's pesticides," he said.
"No matter what they do to control it, it can't be controlled. There will always be an accident happen. The only answer is organic. Ban pesticides."
Sharon Labchuk of Earth Watch concurred saying the only way to solve not only water pollution but also air pollution is to get rid of pesticides.
"Prince Edward Island is the pesticide capital of Canada," Labchuk said. "We use 18 pounds of pesticides per person on Prince Edward Island. Prince Edward Island air is contaminated with pesticides, we know that. Environment Canada has been studying it and every sample they took is contaminated with cancer-causing pesticides."
She said the federal government has been testing water in streams for four years and it has turned up regular pesticide contamination outside of the problems of the massive fish kills.
"The air's contaminated, the soil's contaminated, the water's contaminated," Labchuk said. "They have found pesticides in our drinking water as well. The answer is not more regulation. We've wasted how many years since the Round Table on Land Use was struck in
1996. That was simply a delaying tactic. Buffer zones? You can have buffer zones as far back as you want and that's not going to stop the poisoning."
Labchuk said the problem is far more reaching than just the water system "Buffer zones, that's only addressing or trying to address one problem, fish," she said. "What happens with the pesticides when they are released out of the nozzle and go into the air? You can't be addressing these various little problems and try to mitigate the problems as they arise one by one.
"There has to be a big-picture look and a big-picture solution. And that big-picture solution is organic agriculture."
Leo Broderick of the Council of Canadians, Tony Redden, Environmental Coalition of P.E.I., and Ken Bingham of the NDP along with others spoke in support of placing an all-out ban on pesticide use on P.E.I.
Nearly 40 demonstrators calling for a ban on the use of pesticides on P.E.I. march through the Summerside Lobster Carnival's annual sidewalk sale Wednesday afternoon. The march was called following last week's fish kill in the Wilmot River.
© Copyright 2002 Charlottetown Guardian
http://www.canada.com/search/site/story.asp?id=58B42EBF-2466-4692-8BB2-8E1ADBE18986
Well Mr. Helliker. I too, really believe that poison is poison, that's "registered" pesticides.
Respectfully, Stephen L. Tvedten
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