Draft regulations for Ontario's cosmetic pesticide ban outlaw the use of the popular lawn care product Roundup and will make the law the toughest on the continent, said Gideon Forman, executive director of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment.
There had been concern, especially from the City of Toronto, which already has a tough cosmetic pesticide ban, that Ontario's new law would water down the rules on chemicals, but Forman said that's not the case.
"Roundup -- glyphosate is the actual chemical -- and 2-4D are now on the banned for cosmetic use list if assuming these regulations get approved, which they likely will be," he said.
"These are a ban on sales. Toronto's bylaw couldn't ban sales, only use."
There will be an exemption for health and safety, so that a product such as Roundup could be used to root out a patch of poison ivy, but the product won't be as readily available as in the past.
"You'd have to buy it from behind the counter, it would have to be sold by someone with who's had some training," Forman said.
Toronto public health officials said they are studying the regulations and hope to respond to them within the 45-day window for consultation, which closes Dec. 22.