Canadian Environment Committee Urges Lawn Chemical Ban

"It would make life a lot more difficult for [landscapers] in terms of lawn care," said Wayne Roberts, spokesman for the Landscape Ontario Horticultural Trades Association. "A lot might no longer be in business. And I doubt it would be a sustainable system," because reliable, non-chemical options aren't widely available, he said.

The Liberal-dominated committee is calling to reduce or phase out pesticides because of their potential threat to human health and recommends re-evaluation – according to today's stricter standards – of all pesticides approved before 1995 and a ban on such products where safer alternatives exist. The proposed legislation would create a new pest-control act, replacing the 31-year-old Pest Control Products Act in Canada.

"There is urgency in addressing this serious threat to health and the environment," committee chairman and Toronto Liberal MP Charles Caccia wrote in a letter about the report. It singles out special protection for children across Canada. The report says children are more vulnerable to pesticides than adults because they consume more food, water and air for each kilogram of body weight and their immune systems and nervous systems are still developing.

A group representing pesticide manufacturers criticized the report, saying it ignores the benefits of pesticides in controlling diseases and insects that could endanger human health.

The report gives Canadians "half of the story," said Lorne Hepworth, president of the Crop Protection Institute of Canada, a trade association that represents pesticide manufacturers and distributors, including Monsanto Co., Dupont Co. and Dow Chemical Co. "They have put forward bad public policy and bad science," she said.

A cosmetic pesticide ban could lower real estate values, devastate golf courses and parks and spawn pests that may spread to agriculture, critics warned. It could also drastically affect the country’s pesticides sales, which were $1 billion (U.S.) in 1998 compared to global 1998 sales of close to $32.2 billion (U.S.), Hepworth said, adding that banning pesticides from domestic use in parks and lawns could dent Canadian sales by 10 percent.

About 37 municipalities across Canada have already banned cosmetic use of pesticides, according to Caccia.

For more information about recent pesticide legislation and developments, please click the following links:

Battle Brewing Over Proposed Pesticide Ban In Halifax, Canada

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