Pesticides | Communities Put A Lid On Lawn Sprays
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Pesticides | Communities Put A Lid On Lawn Sprays
Date:
Thu, 25 Jul 2002 11:50:21 -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
Maclean's -- Current Edition-- July 29, 2002
Cover -- Fouling our cities: Garbage, sewage, traffic, smog -- they're getting worse and it's time to clean up our act
Pesticides | Communities Put A Lid On Lawn Sprays [Page 24 in the hard copy]
Julian Beltrame
THIRTY YEARS AGO, John Sankey's was a lonely voice, warning of dangers lurking in the perfectly manicured lawn. Now he has an army around him, from environmental lobbyists to local politicians and concerned parents of young children. Their campaign against the cosmetic use of lawn chemicals is spreading, well, like dandelions, and even the pesticide lobby appears to be saying, "We can't kill it, we can only hope to contain it." Sankey, a physicist who retired from the National Research Council in Ottawa four years ago, looks forward to the nation's capital becoming the next big prize for the anti-pesticide movement, joining dozens of communities, most notably precedent-setting Hudson, Que., and Halifax, in at least partially banning lawn sprays. But total, nationwide victory won't be easy. "It took many years to get results on tobacco," Sankey notes, "even after it was known to be a carcinogen."
The health risks of pesticides are less clear-cut. But there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that they make at least some people ill. Barbara Leimsner, president of the Ottawa branch of the Allergy and Environmental Health Association, says she, like about 300 local members, suffers whenever a neighbour uses lawn chemicals. "Pesticide flu," she calls it. "I get a sore throat, achy joints and fatigue," says Leimsner. "I have to close the windows for a couple of days until it goes away."
Even if their evidence lacks scientific verification, anti-pesticide activists are winning the battle in the public and political arenas. Rejecting a legal challenge by the lawn-spray companies, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld Hudson's ban last year, clearing the way for other municipalities to pass similar laws. In Ottawa, council has approved a $400,000 public-education campaign against spraying chemicals on lawns and garde ns and restricted their use in public parks and schoolyards. Now, councillor Alex Cullen anticipates that a general ban, allowing few exceptions, will be approved by Ottawa council this fall and go into effect in the spring.
From Corner Brook, Nfld., through Toronto and London, Ont., to Victoria, communities are joining the anti-pesticide bandwagon. "Five years ago, I used to get calls from people asking how to tell their neighbours to stop spraying," says Angela Rickman, an anti-pesticide advocate for the Sierra Club of Canada in Ottawa. "Now I'm getting calls from city councillors." The best argument against cosmetic use of pesticides, she says, may simply be that since they're not essential, "why take the chance" that they'll cause health problems.
Against this onslaught, lawn-care firms appear helpless. Properly applied, pesticides pose no unacceptable risk, states Thom Bourne, president of the Nutri-Lawn franchise in Ottawa. Besides, they've been approved for use by government regulatory agencies. Still, Nutri-Lawn and some other lawn-care operations, while saying that business is still good, are offering a pesticide-free, organic alternative to their regular service. So far, though, it's not a big seller -- about 10 per cent of his business, Bourne says. "It costs more," he adds, "and it's not as effective." But like Sankey three decades ago, Bourne is beginning to sound like a lone voice in the wilderness.
Copyright by Rogers Media Inc.
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