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It’s Round 3 of Ottawa’s great pesticide debate, with anti-pesticide forces sensing public support and a chance to get a control bylaw approved by a new city council.
The Canadian Cancer Society, with the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, are releasing a poll this week that they say shows a rising recognition in Ottawa of pesticides’ dangers.
Of those polled, 72 per cent support a bylaw to phase out the use of lawn pesticides, up from 65 per cent in 2005.
As well, 79 per cent said lawn pesticides are a public health issue, while only 17 per cent said pesticides are a property-rights issue. Eighty-four per cent said lawn pesticides threaten the environment, up from 77 per cent in 2005.
Of those surveyed this year, 82 per cent view pesticides as a health threat to children, up from 74 per cent in 2005. Seventy-five per cent view pesticides as a threat to pets.
The poll of 500 residents was conducted between Feb. 28 and March 3. The margin of error is 4.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Gideon Forman of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment said Ottawa is the largest city in eastern Canada without some kind of municipal restrictions on the cosmetic use of pesticides. He said when 125 other Canadian municipalities have a pesticides bylaw—including many small communities—Canada’s capital should have one, too.
“You can still spray on private property next to a school, to a seniors’ home, next to a day care, next to a sports field,” said Mr. Forman. “We just don’t think it’s safe for kids, seniors or pregnant mothers—or anyone in the community—to be exposed to these things.”
Jeff Froggett of the Canadian Cancer Society said Ottawa led the way in public health with a ban on smoking in places open to the public some years ago, but it has been on the “trailing edge” for pesticides. He said the public is worried about pesticides flowing into groundwater sources and being sprayed into the air, and are more aware of the growing chorus of concern from the medical community about the links between pesticides and cancer.
“This is the new smoking. People have embraced this concern the same way they did about second-hand smoke,” said Mr. Froggett.
Ottawa City Hall has been the scene of some drawn-out battles between anti-pesticide groups and lawn care companies. In 2002, a pesticide bylaw proposal failed in a 15-7 vote.
Then council members, especially former mayor Bob Chiarelli, were swayed by the increasing number of doctors who said pesticides are a threat to public health. In a vote in 2005, the council split evenly, with 10 voting for a ban and 10 voting against. That effort to get a ban failed, largely because councillors couldn’t agree on what should qualify as an “infestation,” for which exceptions would be made.
Now Councillor Alex Cullen, a proponent of a ban, says there are enough councillors wanting to ban cosmetic use of pesticides to at least get the issue on the agenda of a committee.
He believes there are 11 pro-ban councillors and he believes a majority of council will support the measure, especially after they hear from some of the top scientists and doctors in Ottawa, a group that constitutes “a powerful force” in municipal debates. He isn’t saying when he wants city council to deal with the issue.
Lawn care companies are girding for another showdown with the pesticide banners, perhaps in the fall.
Thom Bourne, the owner of Nutri-Lawn Ottawa and the chairman of a coalition of lawn-care companies, said companies have been dramatically reducing the amount of pesticides they use, in response to city targets set in 2002.
He said lawn care firm operators are getting weary of re-fighting the battle every couple of years. “I’d rather be running my business and paying my taxes.”
Mr. Bourne said lawn care companies like to use all kinds of organic methods today and work with customers to prevent disease and weak growth in lawns. His firm even uses nematodes—parasitic worms that eat grubs—but he finds that they have a limited success rate.
Mr. Bourne and his colleagues want the continued ability to use chemicals on lawns, especially for dandelions after May 10 and for infestations of pests such as grubs and chinch bugs. Mr. Bourne says these companies don’t want the green light to do blanket spraying.
Those wanting a cosmetic pesticide ban want a third party to report on the level of chemical spraying and argue that in cities such as Toronto and Halifax, pesticide bylaws have reduced pesticide use while lawn care companies continue to work hard on peoples’ properties, using non-chemical techniques.
The lawn care companies estimate they have 49,000 customers in Ottawa. They argue that even if the city did ban cosmetic use of pesticides on lawns, homeowners in the tens of thousands would still troop down to hardware stores and buy weed and insect killers that are permitted by the provincial and federal governments.
The poll released this week found there are fewer Ottawa residents using pesticides on their lawns: 89 per cent said they don’t use pesticides for cosmetic use and only 11 per cent said they did use them.
While there’s been strong resistance to a pesticide ban in the rural areas in the past, this poll suggests there’s rising concern in rural Ottawa, too. About 70 per cent of the rural people questioned said pesticides present a threat to the environment, human or animal health.
The Canadian Cancer Society and the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment ultimately want to see a provincewide law on pesticides, something like Ontario’s law restricting smoking. In the meantime, they are trying to get municipalities to act.
Last year, the two organizations commissioned a public opinion poll in London, Ont., that found 74 per cent of respondents favoured phasing out pesticides. After the poll was released, London council voted 13-6 to ban use of cosmetic pesticides, beginning in September 2008.
Ottawa Citizen