Who we are
Emily McMillan
Andrea Peart
Director
Atlantic Canada
Chapter
Sierra Club of
Canada
Director
Health and
Environment
Sierra Club of
Canada
Halifax
Ottawa
Introductions
Menu
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Background Statistics
Pesticide Registration
PMRA
Children’s Health
Lawn Care Pesticides
Pesticide By-laws – Hudson, Permit
Systems, IPM, Alternatives, Dealing
with Golf Courses, Enforcement
• Paving the Way, the 4 Basics
• Questions
Background
Statistics
Homeowners annually
apply 5.5-12.5 kg of
pesticides per hectare of
lawn which is higher than
the rate per unit area in
most agricultural areas by
a factor of up to 5.
One study showed the
average urban Canadian
applying 9kg of pesticide/acre
compared to 2kg of
pesticides / acre for soybean
farmers.
The Quebec Poison Control
Centre and the Quebec Ministry of
Environment and Wildlife released
statistics on pesticide poisoning
in 1996. They reported a
staggering 1,650 poisoning cases.
79.4% of the cases were in private
homes, and 46.1% of the victims
were children under age five. 31%
of these cases were due to oral
ingestion, and 34.9% followed a
pesticide application.
Herbicide exposure before
one year of age increases a
child’s risk of asthma by over
four and a half times.
Research has indicated that
parents who use pesticides in the
home once or twice a week were
nearly 2.5 times as likely to have
children with non-Hodgekin’s
lymphoma, if pesticides were used
on a more daily basis, children
were 7 times more likely to
experience the cancer.
A Los Angeles study
indicated parents’ use of
pesticides on the lawn or
garden during pregnancy was
associated with a 5.6 fold
increase in childhood
leukemia.
The use of professional pest
control services at any time
from 1 year before birth to 3
years after was associated
with a significantly increased
risk of childhood leukemia.
Background
Pesticides
Pesticide Registration
• Pesticides are registered in
Canada by the Pest Management
Regulatory Agency (PMRA), which
is part of Health Canada
• The mandate of the PMRA is both
to register new pesticides and reevaluate old ones
Does registered mean
safe?
Does registered mean safe?
• NO
• Health Canada won’t let you say
that registered means safe
• Industry provides the data
Safety tests are inadequate
• Test for acute not chronic
• Test for single chemicals only
• Use healthy adult male subjects,
not elderly, pregnant, ill or
pesticide sensitive subjects
• Subjects are exposed over short
not long periods of time
• Talk more about testing later
Health Risks of Pesticide Use
• Brain, breast, stomach, prostate &
testicular cancer
• childhood leukemia
• endocrine disruption
(endometriosis, reduced fertility,
breast cancer, prostate cancer,
testicular cancer)
• Parkinson’s disease
• Learning disabilities
• Reduced intellectual abilities and
neurotoxicity
How does this apply to lawns?
• Homeowners annually apply 5
times the amount of pesticides per
acre than is used agriculturally
• Pesticide use for aesthetic
purposes aren’t necessary
• They drift and interfere with the
right of neighbours to be safe and
healthy in their own homes
Common landscape pesticides
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In the home and garden the most
common pesticides in Canada are:
2,4-D
Glyphosate
Imidacloprid
Carbaryl &
Diazinon
Chemical fact sheets on the most
popular lawn care chemicals are
available at:
www.sierraclub.ca
Background
Pest Management Regulatory Agency
(PMRA)
PMRA
• 405 old pesticides contained in
thousands of commercial products that
the PMRA pledged to re-evaluate by
2006
• By 2004, the PMRA had completed 61
of 405
• Of the 61 completed 53 were taken off
the market.
Slow re-evaluations
• Eg. the re-evaluation of DEET, the
widely used insect repellent,
began in 1990
• The re-evaluation took 12 years
and was not completed until 2002
• At that time the use of DEET was
substantially restricted.
Inerts
• Over 3700 ingredients can legally
be concealed in pesticides
• Can make up 97% of the product
• Can contain other pesticides
• Can be more toxic than active
ingredients
• Aren’t tested by the PMRA
• Are considered ‘trade secrets’
Synergistic effects
Pesticides are tested one by one
in labs. Pesticides are not tested
in combination, although their
synergistic effects may be
amplified as much as 1000 times.
We don’t live in labs we live in the
real world where people are
frequently exposed to multiple
pesticides.
Body Burden
• A Centres for Disease Control
study of the body burden of over
9,000 people in the US found that
out of 34 pesticides tested for, the
average American had 13 different
pesticides in their body.
• Fact that North Americans have
multiple pesticides in their bodies
indicates a dramatic failure of
government to regulate pesticides
Risk Management Model
• Hasn’t been effective at predicting
the ecological and health effects
• Has trouble calculating subtler,
less quantifiable risks
• What can’t be quantified is
excluded from the risk analysis
• the Russian Roulette example
Precautionary Principle
• When there is reason to believe
that a pesticide can cause harm
• Even if there is not conclusive
evidence to prove a causal
relationship
• We should do more research and
take preventative measures
Background
Children
Children
• Children are particularly sensitive
to pesticides
• OCFP Pesticide report’s Chapter
on Children is included in the Tool
Kit
Children
• Children eat more food, drink
more water & breathe more air per
kg body weight
• Have underdeveloped immune
systems
• Play where pesticides are
• Demonstrate hand to mouth
behaviour
Questions?
Background
Lawn care
Lawn care pesticides aren’t safe
You’re going to hear a lot of people
who will tell you that lawn care
pesticides are safe. This is a lie.
Healthy Lawns
Healthy lawns?
There are safe practical
alternatives….
It just doesn’t make sense
to put people in our
community’s health at risk
when there are other
options!
Healthy Lawn Tips
Healthy Lawn Tips
– mow high (3 inches)
– mow often enough that only 1/3rd is
removed at a time and leave the
clippings
– water deeply (a nice deep water once
a week – don’t overdo it!)
– Aerate once a year
– Fertilize twice a year with organic
non-chemical fertilizer – DON’T
OVERFERTILIZE
Background
By-laws
The Hudson Decision
The Hudson Supreme Court
Decision as well as the federal
Minister of Health have expressed
that municipalities do not only
have the right but the
responsibility to protect the health
of its citizens.
Significance of Hudson
• The Hudson Supreme Court
decision supersedes all other
municipal acts - we just need
someone to change them
Right to spray and the law
• Although someone may have the
right to spray pesticides on their
property people also have the
right not to have pesticides on
their property.
• If we allow the cosmetic use of
pesticides that right to not have
pesticides on your lawn or in your
body is infringed upon.
• Pesticides know no boundaries or
property lines.
• They drift (225 ft. radius) they
eventually end up in our rain, in
our drinking water and our bodies.
Integrated Pest Management
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We do not recommend IPM
IPM relies on pesticides
There is no accountability
IPM is the industry’s way of
repackaging what they have been
doing for years
• Under Calgary’s IPM strategy,
pesticide use actually increased
Permit Systems
• We do not suggest permit systems
• Permit systems are not the norm
• Permit systems tend to open the
door to pesticide use, which will
both weaken the by-law and waste
the municipality’s time and money
in a long clause by clause battle
with the pesticide industry
Making Room for Alternatives
• It can be difficult for a municipality
to keep an updated list of
products which would be allowed
under a by-law
• We recommend buying a
membership in an organic
standard’s board such as:
-SOUL Society for Organic Urban Lawn Care
-OLA Organic Landscape Alliance
-OMRI Organic Materials Review Institute
Dealing with Golf Courses
• The first step is consultation,
dealing with golf courses must be
a collaborative process
• Consider making an exception in
the bylaw to allow sports clubs a
three to five year “weaning
period” as was done in Hudson
• Council may want to offer to pay
for the golf course’s lawn care
employees to attend a non-toxic
lawn care training course
Enforcement
• Having the law in place helps
people to realize what is ‘proper’
behaviour AND gives those who
have a problem with the behaviour
somewhere to turn for help
• A bylaw with an education
program will reduce pesticide use
by 51%-90%, education alone will
reduce pesticide use by 10%-24%
• Complaint-driven enforcement will
keep costs low
Components of a Great By-law
• Lots of public education and
involvement
• A complete phase-out of the
cosmetic use of pesticides
• No permit systems
• A membership in an organic
standards board
• Complaint-based enforcement
Questions?
Paving the way
The four basics
1. Form a Group & Make Allies
• Start a Health initiative community
group working towards a pesticide
phase-out
• Make Allies – parent groups,
women’s groups, allergy
associations, Dads, doctors,
daycares, Moms, school
principals, professors, Canada
post employees, pet owners...
• Keep a database of their names,
addresses and phone numbers.
2. Be patient and polite
From the start be VERY polite,
listen, don’t talk at people and be
patient – it can be difficult
sometimes but always be polite
and patient.
3. Collect Letters
One of the first priorities is to
collect letters of support for a bylaw from doctors in your
municipality.
4. Develop Materials
• Another priority is to develop
materials such as:
– postcards
– pledges
– Dear parents letters
– sample letters for doctors
– buttons
– petitions
– fact sheets
– information booklets
Questions?
That’s all folks!
Thank-you very much!