Concerns in Connecticut

CONNECTICUT – In a press conference on June 24 at the state capitol, a Connecticut-based group charged that lawn care pesticides are harmful to humans, and pushed legislature requiring lawn care operators to store pesticides in separate buildings, according to the Connecticut Nursery & Landscape Association (CNLA).

The Environment & Human Health group released its year-long, 100-page report finding “major problems” with the way lawn care operators handle pesticides and how pesticides affect humans, including inadequate packaging and labeling of lawn care pesticides and their potential to cause cancer and disrupt the hormonal system. Report presenters included John Wargo, Yale University; Barry Boyd, Greenwich Hospital and former Connecticut Public Health Commissioner Susan Addiss.

This session, CNLA convinced the legislature not to act on the bill that would have required lawn care operators to have separate buildings to house their lawn care pesticides. However, the environmental group plans to continue pushing legislature that will tighten where and how lawn care products are sold in Connecticut.

The author is Managing Editor of Lawn & Landscape magazine and can be reached at nwisniewski@lawnandlandscape.com.