Thu May 30 2013 00:01:00
Pesticide bans a snowballing movement
Re: Pesticides safe — May 25
Fred Snider’s letter heralds pesticides as “safe and reliable products” that are “safe to humans and the environment.”
Not only is he deluding himself, he’s deluding others. Pesticides are carcinogens and neurotoxins. Snider claims the effects of pesticides are limited to insects and weeds. In truth, most pesticides reach a species other than their target species.
He references Peter Shawn Taylor’s May 16 column (“From broken windows to weedy lawns”), which claimed a “broken window effect” due to pesticide-free lawns and roadsides. The broken window effect was intended for New York City, not Waterloo.
It’s precisely because Waterloo cares about the health of our land that we don’t poison it. It’s because we care about our groundwater and our vital pollinators that we don’t use pesticides.
Snider believes it’s “government authority that makes these pesticides legal in Canada after careful study of each.” In fact, most pesticide studies are carried out by pesticide companies.
He states that an increasing number of provinces are “reversing earlier bans (on pesticides) because they don’t want their cities looking like … ours.” Cosmetic pesticide bans are a snowballing movement, initiated by Ontario and Quebec, and followed by Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. Prince Edward Island, Alberta, and New Brunswick have banned certain pesticides. Manitoba is planning a ban, and polls show the majority of residents in British Columbia and Saskatchewan want provincewide bans, too.
Precisely which provinces is Snider referring to?
All it takes to neaten up the roadsides is a lawn mower and a trowel. Snider’s time would be better spent there than at home writing uninformed letters.
Maya Keshav
Waterloo
via Pesticide bans a snowballing movement | therecord.
http://www.therecord.com/opinion/columns/article/485737–waterloo-doesn-t-need-to-grow-any-higher
Keshav is WRONG !
NO ONE WANTS THIS #@!!% BAN NONSENSE.
Keshav VALIDATES the PROHIBITION against pest control products used in the Urban Landscape under the MISGUIDED PRETEXT of somehow protecting health and environment.
PESTICIDES DO NOT CAUSE CANCER.
If Anti-Pesticide Activists like Keshav were not so SCIENTIFICALLY ILLITERATE, they would know that scientific research shows that, as reported through EPA’s and Health Canada’s VAST TOXICOLOGY DATABASE, NO HARM WILL OCCUR when pest control products are applied properly in the Urban Landscape.
ALL PESTICIDES have been evaluated for their CARCINOGENIC POTENTIAL. http://wp.me/p1jq40-6yf
Even Canadian Cancer Society’s own web-sites STATE REPEATEDLY that scientific research does NOT provide a conclusive link between pest control products and cancer. http://wp.me/P1jq40-4qC
Scientific research PROVES that pest control products CAUSE NO HARM and DO NOT CAUSE CANCER.
Moreover, Keshav is WRONG by saying most pesticides reach a species other than their target species.
Pest control products used in the Urban Landscape SELECTIVELY AND EFFECTIVELY CONTROL disease, insect, and weed pests, but are COMPLETELY SAFE for other non-target organisms ― they DO NOT INJURE TURFGRASSES, and have NO persistence beyond season of use.
These products can be USED SAFELY because the amount required to affect human health is SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER than any potential level of exposure.
Keshav is WRONG about the effects on ground-water.
Pest control products used in the Urban Landscape DO NOT enter our lakes and rivers through surface run-off and storm sewers.
PROHIBITION will NOT somehow lead to lower concentrations of contaminants in our stream water.
Keshav is WRONG TO ALLEGE that any PROVINCE-WIDE PROHIBITION would be helpful environmentally, when, in fact, pest control products used in the Urban Landscape DO NOT enter our lakes and rivers through surface run-off and storm sewers.
This allegation is FALSE, MISLEADING, and CONTRADICTS over twenty-five years of research. http://wp.me/P1jq40-27X
Keshav is WRONG about the effects on bees.
PESTICIDES DO NOT HARM BEES.
Scientific research shows that, as reported through EPA’s and Health Canada’s VAST TOXICOLOGY DATABASE, NO HARM WILL OCCUR TO BEES.
The loss of bees is the fault of the beekeepers and their mismanagement practices.
They are responsible, and NOT pesticides. http://wp.me/P1jq40-2BA
It must be noted that there are REAL TRENDS AGAINST PROHIBITION across North America, with dozens of jurisdictions that are STOPPING or RESCINDING or LIMITING Anti-Pesticide PROHIBITION, or GRANTING Professional Lawn Care businesses with an EXCEPTION STATUS. http://wp.me/P1jq40-1JO http://wp.me/p1jq40-6h1
THE PUBLIC DOES NOT WANT THIS #@!!% BAN NONSENSE ?!?!
In 2011, a BC POLL conducted by Canadian Consumer Specialty Products Association ( CCSPA ) showed that the VAST MAJORITY of residents are OPPOSED to a PROPOSED PROHIBITION against the use conventional pest control products, and they actually FAVOUR the continued use of these products around their homes and in public green spaces. http://wp.me/P1jq40-2bo
In 2011, an Ontario POLL showed that the public REJECTS PESTICIDE BANS, and MORE THAN HALF of Ontario residents believed that the provincial government DID NOT DO THE RIGHT THING by DID NOT DO THE RIGHT THING BY IMPOSING AN ARBITRARY PESTICIDE BAN. Ontario residents WOULD RATHER HAVE THE BAN SCRAPPED OR MODIFIED. http://wp.me/P1jq40-3kB
In February 2013, Canadian Association Of Agri-Retailers ( CAAR ) said there is QUESTIONABLE PUBLIC SUPPORT for PROHIBITION against the use of pest control products. http://wp.me/p1jq40-6tT
In February 2013, a POLL conducted by Winnipeg Free Press showed that 60 PER CENT OF THE PUBLIC WERE OPPOSED TO PROHIBITION. http://wp.me/p1jq40-6ii
In Fall 2012, Professional Lawn Care businesses and clients sent to Manitoba Government Officials the results of a PETITION with 2,500 POST-CARDS OPPOSING A PROPOSED PROHIBITION, which was OVERWHELMING OPPOSITION to Anti-Pesticide Activists who had a MERE 1,000 signatures supporting PROHIBITION, with most signatures ORIGINATING FROM OUTSIDE MANITOBA. http://wp.me/p1jq40-5fL
The ONLY people who want PROHIBITION are a SMALL GROUP of activists with VESTED INTERESTS IN CONCOCTING IMAGINARY DANGER against pest control products.
They are PUSHING PROHIBITION WITHOUT ANY JUSTIFICATION.
NO ONE WANTS THIS #@!!% BAN NONSENSE.
WILLIAM H. GATHERCOLE AND NORAH G https://pesticidetruths.com/ http://wp.me/P1jq40-2rr