City Gardens May Face Pesticide Ban
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City Gardens May Face Pesticide Ban
Date:
Thu, 25 Jul 2002 12:06:26 -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: Wednesday, July 24, 2002 from the Vancouver Sun entitled: City gardens may face pesticide ban – City councillors will take a look at the issue in September by Karen Gram.
Vancouver city council will consider banning the use of pesticides on private property in September.
If it votes in favour of the prohibition, as recommended by the city's park board, Vancouverites will have two years to learn alternative approaches to gardening before the ban becomes law.
The move would bring the city in line with a growing number of Canadian municipalities that are taking similar action because of concerns about the effects of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides on the health of children, pets and the environment.
Council was to have debated the issue Tuesday, but decided instead to put it off until September to allow time for delegations to speak on the topic.
Pieter Rutgers, director of planning and operations for the park board, said the board has found that pesticides are not necessary to have a beautiful lawn or garden, although the policy it has proposed to the city would allow some non-cosmetic use of pesticides, possibly on a permit basis, when nothing else works.
In 1987, the board pioneered a controversial integrated pest management plan, in which all options for pest control, including choosing native plants, hardier grasses and biological controls such as ladybugs must be tried before pesticide use is approved. Then the least effective toxin must be used.
As a result of the program, no pesticides have been used on Vancouver fields, playgrounds or turf areas for the past 15 years.
"No loss in playability or decrease in the quality of the sports fields has been observed over that period of time," the park board says in a report to council.
It says very small amounts of low and medium toxicity pesticides such as Safer's Soap have been used at the Sunset greenhouses, Bloedel conservatory and VanDusen Gardens but mostly staff choose pest resistant plants, use biological controls and manually weed to control pests.
In Stanley Park, medium toxicity pesticides are used only every few years to combat pests in such areas as the rose gardens.
"We have proven IPM works on public property and the idea now is to move that over on to private property with education programs followed by restrictions," Rutgers said.
He said the ban proposed for private property in Vancouver is in line with council's recently adopted sustainability policy and would work best if adopted by all the region's municipalities at once.
The trend in Canada toward banning pesticides began 11 years ago when the small town of Hudson Quebec introduced a gradual ban on cosmetic use. The bylaw was challenged by the pesticide industry, but last year the Supreme Court of Canada upheld a municipality's right to prohibit the use of toxic substances within its borders. Shortly after the decision, other municipalities in Quebec followed suit, as did Halifax.
Many other North American cities, including Toronto, Windsor, Victoria, Seattle and San Francisco have integrated pest management systems in place for their municipal and park land.
Ottawa recently launched a summer-long educational campaign to raise awareness about potential health risks associated with cosmetic, or unnecessary, pesticide use. Toronto's board of health endorses a bylaw that would end the use of pesticides on lawns and gardens within two years.
Homeowners purchase about five to 10 per cent of all pesticides sold in Canada and, unlike farmers or municipal staff, they need no training before they apply it. A survey conducted in the GVRD last February found that two thirds of households use pesticides for lawn and garden maintenance. About one third use products that combine a weed killer with grass fertilizers. The federal government may ban such combination products and is also considering a ban on the chemical pesticide 2-4D.
About 28 per cent of GVRD households use moss killers, 15 per cent use insecticides and herbicides and 11 per cent use fungicides.
One third of residents reported using none of these products.
In recent years there has been a spate of studies that have shown a link between pesticide use and leukemia and immune disorders in children. Chronic effects identified in studies include liver and kidney damage, reproductive problems and some types of cancer.
Animals are also highly susceptible because they tend to ingest and roll in garden pesticides.
Many other North American cities, including Toronto, Windsor, Victoria, Seattle and San Francisco have integrated pest management systems in place for their municipal and park land.
Ottawa recently launched a summer-long educational campaign to raise awareness about potential health risks associated with cosmetic, or unnecessary, pesticide use. Toronto's board of health endorses a bylaw that would end the use of pesticides on lawns and gardens within two years.
Homeowners purchase about five to 10 per cent of all pesticides sold in Canada and, unlike farmers or municipal staff, they need no training before they apply it. A survey conducted in the GVRD last February found that two thirds of households use pesticides for lawn and garden maintenance.
About one third use products that combine a weed killer with grass fertilizers. The federal government may ban such combination products and is also considering a ban on the chemical pesticide 2-4D.
About 28 per cent of GVRD households use moss killers, 15 per cent use insecticides and herbicides and 11 per cent use fungicides.
One third of residents reported using none of these products.
In recent years there has been a spate of studies that have shown a link between pesticide use and leukemia and immune disorders in children.
Chronic effects identified in studies include liver and kidney damage, reproductive problems and some types of cancer.
© Copyright 2002 Vancouver Sun
http://www.canada.com/search/site/story.asp?id=9319769E-9EC3-4F1B-A085-9BA27A94EE38
Well Mr. Helliker, I want you to note these comments: "As a result of the program, no pesticides have been used on Vancouver fields, playgrounds or turf areas for the past 15 years. No loss in playability or decrease in the quality of the sports fields has been observed over that period of time." We do not need to use your dangerous "registered" POISONS!
Stephen L. Tvedten
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