PESTICIDE BAN WORKING
Regarding the article Ontario’s pesticide ban lacks teeth (June 14).)
Ontario’s pesticide ban isn’t perfect, but it’s actually working. Municipalities’ right to pass stronger pesticide laws should not have been revoked and proper enforcement would add to the legislation’s effectiveness. But despite all this, Ontarians are generally law-abiding and the ban is already showing signs of success.
A recent Ministry of Environment study reveals that since the law was implemented, pesticide concentrations (like the commonly used herbicide 2,4-D) in urban streams have been reduced by 80%.
This is a dramatic decrease in unnecessary poisons that are linked to cancers, birth defects and neurological illness and great news for wildlife and human health.
Farrah Khan
Executive assistant The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) Toronto
via Letters: June 16 | Comment | London Free Press.
