Calgary Herald

Wed 17 May 2000 News

Lawn chemical ban urged

Pesticides used to treat lawns, golf courses and parks should be phased out
over five years, says the Liberal-dominated Commons environment committee.

``The committee heard compelling testimony that pesticides pose a threat to
human health and the environment,'' says a report released Tuesday after a
year of research, including hearings with health experts.

Food-related pesticide use should be more tightly controlled to protect
children, Canadians should be better informed and more pesticide research is
needed, adds the report.

It suggests new cosmetic pesticides should not be registered and current
ones should be gradually removed.

``Dandelions don't pose a threat to health,'' said committee chairman and
Liberal MP Charles Caccia. ``But herbicides do -- particularly to
children.''

``We have found compelling evidence that pesticides are threats to human
health and the environment, and such evidence keeps accumulating,'' said
Caccia, a Toronto Liberal.

``For instance, a National Cancer Institute study in the U.S. says children
whose parents use pesticides in their homes and gardens are six times more
likely to get leukemia'' than children in homes without pesticides, he said,
adding that pesticides are also linked to non-Hodgkins lymphoma and possibly
breast cancer.

The report also says agriculture is too dependent on such chemicals for a
similar phase-out, but Canada should invest more in organic farming. Caccia
said he hopes it will influence the government as it moves to update
30-year-old pesticide legislation.

Health Minister Allan Rock, who is expected to bring in new legislation
soon, said he will study the committee report. A 1999 brief of planned
changes to the law obtained by the Canadian Press made no specific mention
of how pesticides affect children and wildlife.

The Canadian Public Health Association, Ontario College of Family
Physicians, Canadian Institute of Child Health and the Learning Disabilities
Association of Canada all said children's behaviour and learning skills are
affected by pesticides, Caccia said.

Kids are most vulnerable because their smaller size means greater exposure
as they play on sprayed grass or eat treated food.

Pesticides are most often breathed in, absorbed through the skin or consumed
in produce.

There may not be a scientific ``smoking gun'' linking the chemicals with
health effects, but there's enough hint of harm to warrant precautions,
Caccia added.

The committee urges a re-evaluation -- according to today's stricter
standards -- of all pesticides approved before 1995 and a ban on such
products where safer alternatives exist.

In the meantime, Canadians should carefully wash their produce and parks
departments should stop spraying, it says.

A group representing pesticide manufacturers criticized the report, saying
it ignores the benefits of their products and Canada's ``stringent and
modern regulatory system.''

The report gives Canadians ``half of the story,'' said Lorne Hepworth,
president of the Crop Protection Institute of Canada, representing pesticide
manufacturers and distributors.

A cosmetic ban could lower real estate values, devastate golf courses and
parks, and spawn pests that may spread to agriculture, critics warned.

Those relying on Canada's $7-billion-a-year landscaping industry are also
worried.

``It would make life a lot more difficult for them in terms of lawn care,''
said Wayne Roberts, spokesman for the Landscape Ontario Horticultural Trades
Association.

``A lot might no longer be in business. And I doubt it would be a
sustainable system'' because reliable, non-chemical options aren't widely
available, he said.

Current science shows pesticides are a relatively low risk in a chemical
world, Roberts added.

``We'd like to see a balance . . . We don't see that we're out there killing
children.''

The main changes in the law, the committee said, should be:

- To protect the most ``vulnerable populations'' --mainly children and
sensitive wildlife species. (For instance, frogs are very easily poisoned by
chemicals in their water.)

- To ban ``cosmetic''weed- and insect-killers without waiting for absolute
proof that they are dangerous.




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