|
(Posted 7
a.m., April 20)
Residents ill-prepared for looming provincial pesticide ban
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online
J.A. Laporte's
Flowers and Nursery owner Estelle Laporte has a heightened level of anxiety
these days and it's not because she's nervous about a late start to the
growing season or another unseasonably cold summer.
She's worried
about the looming provincial ban on the cosmetic use of pesticides and for
good reason. Of the 50 or so customers she's seen in the past 10 days, not
a soul knows anything about it.
"No one
knows anything about it and I'm not even sure what I can tell them,"
says Laporte who has mixed reservations about the new legislation which
places a ban on the purchase and sale of hundreds of chemical-based pesticides
and herbicides limits the sale of certain other herbicides to be used on
poison ivy only.
Publicity about
the pesticide ban, which comes into effect this Wednesday to coincide with
International Earth Day, seems to have taken a back seat to the provincial
budget and the controversy over the proposed new single sales tax, but Laporte
predicts it will be cause and even greater stir.
"When people
come to buy a product and it's not on the shelf, who do you think is going
to hear about it? I've talked to some dealers in Quebec where they've had
a ban for the past three and they said they heard about it from customers
for a year a half," says Laporte.
The Ontario ban
follows closely on the heels of similar bans imposed by local municipalities
including Toronto which banned the cosmetic use of pesticides in 2007. Ottawa
has been toying with the idea of ban for a couple of years now, but one
never got passed because a number of city councillors preferred education
over legislation.
The ban is part
of growing trend in North America and elsewhere to curb the use of chemical-based
pesticides which studies indicate are especially harmful to children and
pregnant women and may lead to birth defects and learning disabilities,
There is also evidence to suggest that prolonged exposure may cause certain
cancers.
The Cosmetic
Pesticides Ban Act will prohibit the sale of over 250 products and limit
the use of over 80 pesticide ingredients for non-cosmetic purposes such
as controling poison ivy, fying insects that may be carrying diseases, such
as moisquitoes, and insects or plants that may cause damage to a structure
or infrastructure, such as termites.
Ontario farmers
are exempt from the new legislation and golf courses will still be able
to use pesticides, although certain conditions must be met to ensure a minimal
impact on the environment. Indoor pesticides such as Off and Raid are also
still legal.
The Liberal Party
plans to spend over $10 million to implement the ban and educate the public
on the dangers of pesticides. Although Laporte says the campaign can't start
soon enough, she's concerned about the type of information Ontario residents
will have access to when it comes to finding out about natural alternatives
to chemical-based pesticides and herbicides.
For instance,
Nematodes are a microscopic round worm that can be used to completely eradicate
more than 250 types of insect larva from your lawn including grubs. However,
they have to be applied on a cloudy day and you have to keep your lawn well-watered
for them to work. It's also important to know that they love grass seed,
so you must never apply them to a newly seeded lawn. Instead, you should
wait up to eight weeks for the lawn to get established and then apply them.
Other all-natural
products are extremely harmful to "good" insects like honey bees
and should be applied in the early evening. The rule of thumb, says Laporte,
is for people to thoroughly research whatever remedy they are thinking of
using.
"It's so
easy to use a product you think is all-natural and totally safe and do some
real damage, when you don't know what the facts are," says Laporte.
The Ministry
of Environment currently lists a number of tips for growing healthy lawns
and gardens on its website, but there's no information about what to do
when you have a problem. That's where Laporte would love to be able to help
her customers. With her vast experience in using a wide array of all-natural
remedies and solutions she's more than capable of steering her customers
in the right direction, she just doesn't know what she can or cannot say
under the new legislation.
She's already
been in touch with someone in the Ministry of Environment who has been involved
in developing the policy and is hoping to hear from them before Wednesday.
(This story
was made possible thanks to the generous support of our local
business partners.)
Return
to top
Return
to Front Page
|
