Pesticides are toast
Citywide ban is imminent after report links weed-killers to
cancer, politicians suggest
Daniel Tencer and Chris Cobb
City councillors pushing for a ban on garden pesticides say an
influential new report linking the commonly-used poisons to human cancer
is evidence enough that Ottawa should prohibit their use by next spring.
"The writing is on the wall," Councillor Alex Cullen told the Citizen
yesterday, "and this report shows that the writing can't be ignored."
Mr. Cullen will urge fellow councillors to pass a new bylaw before the
end of the year that would prohibit cosmetic pesticide use by the spring
2005 gardening season.
The new report, from the Ontario College of Family Physicians, offers
damning evidence that pesticides commonly used to kill weeds and
suburban garden pests are linked to cancer.
The college's report reveals "positive associations" between pesticide
exposure and brain cancer, prostate cancer, kidney cancer and pancreatic
cancer.
"It is clear from the review that an association exists between
pesticide exposure and leukemia," says the report. "The implication of
pesticides in the development of leukemia warrants further investigation
and also political action."
In 2002, council rejected a ban on pesticide use, opting instead for a
plan that included a pesticide ban on city-owned lawns and a community
education program aimed at getting a 70-per-cent voluntary reduction in
use of the chemicals. That target seems unlikely to be met.
"This report is telling us not to wait for 2005," said Mr. Cullen. "Now
that the evidence is much clearer, city council should be accelerating
the process."
Councillor Clive Doucet said the report confirms what individual doctors
have already told the city and signals the end of cosmetic pesticide use
in Ottawa.
"Whether we ban them this year or next," he said, "pesticides are toast.
"They are on the same curve as smoking was. When we first started on
smoking, everyone said we were intrusive and authoritarian. Now entire
provinces and countries are banning it.
"With pesticides, it just depends where we want to be on the curve: Do
we want to lead or do we want to follow?"
Mr. Cullen and Mr. Doucet predict there will be enough support on
council to get the new bylaw passed.
"I'm not saying it's unanimous," said Mr Cullen, "because it isn't. A
lot of my colleagues understood there were health issues, but were
waiting for something more definitive. This report will move us along.
We can't afford to use another year of people being exposed to these
chemicals."
The city's anti-pesticide education program, and its efforts to get
residents to voluntarily change to non-chemical alternatives, seem to
have fallen on barren ground.
"The city spent $400,000 last year teaching people about pesticide use,"
said Councillor Jan Harder. "And cosmetic pesticide use went up last
year."
Some councillor have criticized the city's pesticide-free policy, saying
the city was not doing enough maintenance to keep its own property in
good shape without the use of pesticides.
"You look at Festival Plaza and the other side of City Hall on Lisgar
Street, and both are in pretty bad shape," Councillor Gord Hunter told
The Citizen last fall. He added that the weed growth on city lawns "is a
bit embarrassing."
A number of Ontario cities have gone pesticide-free in recent years,
after a 2001 Supreme Court ruling upheld a pesticide ban in Hudson, Que.
More than 50 municipalities across Canada have banned cosmetic pesticide
use but the pesticide industry continues to challenge the legality of
the bans.
The City of Ottawa has compiled a list of lawn care providers who offer
weed-free lawns without the use of pesticides.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2004
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