Presenter after presenter to hearings of the provincial Agriculture, Forestry and Environment Committee on Wednesday urged Island MLAs to ban the use of cosmetic pesticides on the province's lawns and gardens.
The committee has been asked by the legislature to look at the ramification of a possible provincewide ban on cosmetic lawn pesticides.
Committee chair Alan McIsaac said they have already had written submissions from people who want to see pesticides outlawed and from those who argue that there is no scientific or health justification for restricting the chemicals.
Wednesday afternoon was the first testimony for hearings on the issue and it was the proponents of the ban who were most evident.
Tony Reddin, a former executive of the Sierra Club of Canada, presented a video from a group of doctors calling for a pesticide ban. He said there are real concerns about the health impact of lawn sprays and little justification for their use.
"For people whose health is affected as a result of pesticide use carried out by someone else it becomes an issue not just of the environment or of health, but of justice,'' he said.
Kevin O'Brien of Cornwall said he has lived through those effects. He said his neighbours - a business and a church - have used lawn sprays in the past and that his health has been hurt.
O'Brien said exposure to the sprays has caused him long periods of depression in recent years and that the increased sensitivity caused by exposure to the sprays caused his face to react when he lay on a towel that had been treated with fabric softener.
He said MLAs should go forward with the cosmetic pesticide ban.
"I was hoping that I'd be able to find a T-shirt with a picture of a dandelion on it for this meeting, because they are just flowers. I don't think we should go to war on God's creation just because we can."
O'Brien said a ban would no doubt cause some hardship for companies now in the lawn spray business, but said such a ban would create demand for non-chemical lawn services that could be just as profitable.
Jane Ledwell, speaking for the Advisory Council on the Status of Women, said cosmetic pesticide use is really a neighbourhood issue. She said MLAs should realize that when pesticides are used on city lawns they are unknowingly spread to a landscape shared by children, pets and pregnant women who would be more sensitive to chemical toxins than the adult males used as norms in safety tests.
"Property may be labeled private but it's not and the air, the water and the animals are all shared," she said.
Presenters give thumbs down to using cosmetic pesticides
Committee starts hearings on whether to enact provincewide ban
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Comments
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- Bill
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:41:56
To Reality Check: It is not just a matter of a few weeds. It's about lower property values and unattractive city scapes.
What I wanted to point out is that there is a price to pay if cosmetic pesticides are eliminated. Whether that price is more important than good health is questionable but be aware of the consequences before accepting this change. Toronto learned this the hard way. -
- MR Taser Sucks
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:37:57
MR. Taser would just like to say that grass is in fact a weed it just happens to be one that we find appealing to the eyes. With proper lawn care and keeping the balance of the soil to what the grass prefers the PH scale then there is now need for herbicides. Pesticides is another issuse depending on if you have an infestation of earwigs, termites etc. If you have an insect problem that is eating your house then in my opinion by all means do what you have too, but too get rid of some weeds, get off of your butt and look for other means then a chemical bath on your property.
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- joe
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:35:16
Nice to see all the old hippies from the sixtys in one spot still looking pretty good I might add.
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- S.O.W. seek to move
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:33:10
PEI S.O.W. - such an unscrupulous organization to seek political influence with leverage.
All to give themselves a *leg-up* in the decision-making process and give unfair advantage to a self-interest group. -
- Silent majority tells
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:32:05
I grew up drinking water from a hose and the odd bug for a snack.
These days, loud, vocal people are too paranoid. Consider this...
Leave my lawn alone! Or face defeat @ the polls. -
- Love The
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:30:53
When chemicals kill they do so by taking advantage of the physiology of the animal or plant they kill. In other words, the chemicals disrupt the normal function of biological systems. That's how they kill and no chemical kills by any other mechanism. But, we absolutely do not know the entire range of effects these chemicals have. We design them to do certain things but we simply cannot know every single interaction they will have with the multitude of molecules in nature and in our bodies.
These things are cosmetic. And to those who say property values are lower when weeds are present -- you're on the wrong side of history. Property that's known to have no poison is going to be valuable. -
- AL
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:29:32
To cut it out: this is about cosmetic pesticides i.e. lawns, not commercial or food-production.
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- Sarah
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:28:00
Ban them Mr. Ghiz!
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- Reality
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:26:00
Well Bill, I guess reality bites for you then.
After all, EVERYTHING in life, according to the Holy Bible is about MONEY and higher PROPERTY VALUES. Geez, even the local parish priest rakes it in by the millions every year and craves all those material things just like you....
Ever take a chemistry class in high school?
Maybe an inorganic chemistry class in university?
Once you learn a little bit about Round-Up and all the other nasties we spread on the lawn ''to make things beautiful (according to your standard)'' then you might not be so keen on the chems.
Get your lawn off drugs. Do you use cocaine, sort a strip after a hard day at work with all your yuppie friends down in Brighton? Crystal meth maybe? Or maybe you have a stoned out druggie for a kid who now has a few (lot) less brain cells?
Do your lawn and your neighbourhood a favour and stay away from the chems. -
- Reality
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:22:55
What on earth is the problem with a few weeds on your lawn or in the local park?
I don't use pesticides and have a lawn with no dandelions. I pull them out by hand every spring and now after a few years, there are no more....
There should be laws banning people from spreading poisons in our landscape - particularly when they trespass onto other people's property.
The provincial government has the responsibility for regulating this activity in PEI. If they do not ban the practise of allowing some of its residents to spread cancer-causing chemicals at free will, they had better ready the lawyers because the government will be facing massive class-action lawsuits since they are going to be the responsible party.
The simple thing to do however, is just enact a regulation and prevent this crap from coming across the Confederation Bridge in the first place. -
- old
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:03:11
hey Al..........do you think the wind couldnt spread it to fields?many homes and farms are close by each other.
regardless where these chemicals are, do you think they just stay there and arent airborne?
arent there lawns on farms that may be commercially treated.?
get after all them.........those who spray lawns and the farmers who overspray chemicals.
why is there a questionable link to cancer?
why stop at lawn pesticides and why not have a vote of citizens here.
i doubt a chemical on a lawn travels NO where on a windy day.
question it all. -
- cut it out
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:57:53
they want people to eat and buy PEI products.
Then make it more appealing by cutting down on pesticides. -
- donna
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:55:16
There are many neighborhoods that DO NOT use pesticides and HAVE NOT for years. That comment about it being a weed infested city is not true. It is clear if you are not in Toronto often, it is a beautiful city
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- Sherry
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:48:09
To Bill. I would willingly pay more for a property that wasn't poisoned by chemicals. And unattractive city scapes is all in the eyes of the beholder.
Get with the times. -
- Bill
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:41:51
To see the effect of banning cosmetic pesticides go visit Toronto. Many homeowners have given up on weeding their lawns, weeds are growing out of the subway tracks and sidewalks and the many parks are now unfit for picnicing.
Perhaps this is the price we're willing to pay here as well? -
- Baffling how the status
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:36:25
How anyone could twist, contort and view the world as to separate men from womenand children in a cosmetic psticide debate is dumbfounding.
The PEI S-O-W clearly have too much time on their hands or are wholly set on denouncing all things that are male. How odd, sad and generally anti-community.
Way to go PEI S-O-W, what a brilliant 'community organization' you've become. Bizarro has nothing on your group of female 'only' cheerleaders.
