Municipalities' Bans on Pesticides Accelerating

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August/September 2002 -

Cosmetic Pesticide Bans Escalate - Making a

Real Difference for

People and Fish compiled by Delores Broten.

When her neighbours

sprayed their lawn for dandelions, my sister had

to move out of her own

home for two days because the spray made her

sick. No medical evidence

can be cited to back up the experience of

thousands of people like

her, but now cities and towns in Canada are

getting down to the

grassroots and dealing with the problem. They are

motivated by citizens'

concerns about the health of children, pets

and the

environment.

Eleven years ago, the

small town of Hudson in Quebec introduced a

gradual ban on the use of

pesticides, requiring permits except for

exempt situations. (With

a population of 4,000, the town now issues

about 20 permits a year.)

Hudson wound up in Supreme Court, and last

year the Court said

municipalities had the right to ban toxic

substances in order

to protect their citizens.

With that judgement, the

work of pesticide activists across Canada

began to jell, and now a

wave of pesticide reform is hitting the

ground.

Halifax

was one of the first off the mark with a hotly-debated

cosmetic pesticide ban, a

phased approach which started in April

2001. The first phase

makes it illegal to use pesticides, including

lawn care products,

within 50 metres of registered private

properties, as well as

any school, day care, park, playground,

licensed senior

citizens' residence, university, church or hospital.

A total ban comes

into effect next spring.

Thirty-six other Quebec

municipalities followed Hudson's lead. In

July the Quebec

provincial government introduced an enforceable

Pesticide Code which bans

most pesticides from schools and day cares,

eliminates a large number

of synthetic pesticides from private and

public lands, and has a

short term goal to ban mixtures of pesticides

and fertilizers.

Toronto's

board of health has endorsed a bylaw that would end the use

of pesticides on lawns

and gardens within two years.

In September, Vancouver

city council will discuss banning the use of

pesticides, herbicides

and fungicides on private property, to take

effect in two years. The

city's park board has recommended the move

after 15 years of using

Integrated Pest Management and no pesticides.

Similarly, ,

as well as Seattle and San Francisco, have been

using Integrated Pest

Management and few or no pesticides for years.

In the meantime, Port

Moody council, not wanting to wait for regional

action, will begin a

three-year education campaign, to be followed by

a bylaw prohibiting

cosmetic pesticide use. Port Moody has fought

Canadian Pacific Railway

track spraying all the way to the

Environmental

Appeal Board, citing concern for fish streams. The town

lost, and this year

the railway started spraying again.

Householders use between

5 and 10% of all pesticides, with no

training. Up to two

thirds of the households in the Vancouver area

said they used

pesticides, fungicides, or herbicides. One third used

the popular lawn

treatments which combine fertiliser and herbicides,

usually 2,4D. Recently,

studies have linked pesticide exposure to

leukemia and immune

disorders in children as well as liver and kidney

damage, reproductive

problems and some types of cancer.

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