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Cosmetic pesticides could be banned next year: Mackintosh

By: Staff Writer

Monday, Sep. 24, 2012 at 12:16 PM | Comments: 2

JOE BRYKSA / FREE PRESS ARCHIVES Enlarge Image

Some pesticides target dandelions.

Manitoba could see a ban on cosmetic pesticides next year, Conservation Minister Gord Mackintosh said today.

Such a ban, to be phased in, would see chemicals like WeedEx and Roundup outlawed in the province.

Mackintosh made his comments following a presentation of a letter this morning by health and environment groups calling on the Manitoba government to ban the sale and use of cosmetic pesticides. More than 1,000 people have also shown support for the ban either by signing letters or by adding their names to an online petition.

The province said in January it would soon join most other Canadian provinces and ban cosmetic pesticides -- sprays that keep lawns perfect by killing weeds like dandelions and bugs.

A ban would not apply to farms, but only lawns and other public green spaces. It also would not apply to pesticides used for health issues such as mosquitoes carrying the West Nile virus or dangerous plants such as poison ivy.

Manitoba is one of only four provinces left that hasn't created some kind of ban on cosmetic pesticides. Nova Scotia and Ontario have relatively new bans that are considered the toughest.

The province is currently accepting feedback on the proposed ban. The deadline is Oct. 1 http://www.gov.mb.ca//conservation/envprograms/pdf/june_20_pesticides_release.pdf

Mackintosh said his department is looking at what is done in other provinces and municipalities.

Local lawn-care companies have said a cosmetic-pesticide ban is little more than politics.

Organic pesticides are available — some stores have already taken toxic chemicals off their shelves — but critics argue they tend to cost more and are not as effective.

Cities can ban the use of pesticides but only the province can ban the sale, a more effective method of reducing pesticide use. Brandon has a bylaw restricting cosmetic-pesticide use near schools, daycares and parks. Winnipeg's bylaw only requires lawn-care companies to post warning signs when they apply chemicals.

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Posted by:K. Jean Cottam

September 28, 2012 at 6:33 AM

So the self-interested pesticide applicators tell you this is strictly politics? Don't be gullible, don't believe them. After all, they have a vested interest in the status quo and in misleading the general public. Pesticides are toxic poisons, some of which were invented during WWII for use on the battlefield. Now we have a different kind of battlefield in Canada--one combatant is an uninformed general public influenced by pesticide promoters and the other consists of informed public, independent experts and the provincial government which is trying to do the right thing and is concerned about the health of not ony current but also future generations. Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) has no labs of its own and registers pesticide on the basis of rat data submitted by the chemical industry. The PMRA is paid in excess of $8 million per year for this by the industry. This agency is very weak in examining epidemiological (human) studies. Inconvenient studies may be withheld from the PMRA by the industry. What we are talking about is the use of "second-hand" pesticides. Pesticides don't stay put in sprayed yards but also penetrate into common air and water. Children are especially vulnerable to pesticide exposures. Farmers should not get concerned--this is not about farming. This is, I repeat, about children's unnecessary and foolish exposures to second-hand urban pesticides. It is a sensible course of action. Lawns can be maintained without pesticides.

Posted by:Bill the Needle

September 24, 2012 at 12:46 PM

This should make a few noisy people happy.

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