Pesticide Bylaws...

Within the past few years, there's been a wave of municipal bylaws passed across Canada, to inhibit/prohibit the use of cosmetic (aesthetic use) pesticides in home & public gardens.

Here in North Van, a cluster of Concerned Citizens voiced our opinions at council meetings. It rather felt like the same people showing up over and over, which makes me wonder if every issue is like this: 6 people know about it, because it's related in some way to their livelihood, and everyone else is at home watching Survivor Bachelors Who Think They Can Sing.

Actually, in 2007 the Canadian Cancer Society officially came on board and launched a big awareness campaign, making the connection between pesticides and cancer. Wow, that was a refreshing infusion of energy, to shake up the crowd of crochet-tuque "radicals" and spray-tanker-lawn-care dudes. It was just such a hard crowd to work:

"Oh. I see you're a Lawn Care Dude. How's the chemical cocktail going down?"
"Oh. I see you're a Crochet-Tuque Radical. Maybe you'd be more interested in the granola bar."
Such a short mingle.

So in 2009 we got a new version of a pesticide bylaw, which, I would like to say, prohibits use of pesticides completely, but there are in fact exemptions for licenced professionals. I do notice that the locally-owned and chain garden stores on the North Shore have reduced their pesticide aisles to Safer's products and other exempted pesticides (see list at bottom). Yay! Retail sales are regulated by provincial law rather than local bylaws, so I don't know if this phenomenon is occurring throughout the Lower Mainland and the rest of B.C. or? Ontario has passed provincial laws already. I do see on http://www.pesticidefreebc.org/ that the big box stores across Canada are claiming to be phasing out these products but I have yet to do a reconnaissance mission on that. Seeing is believing! This new website is a great information hub for the issue.

The site is hosted by a family adversely affected by pesticide exposure. I find that a more reassuring information source than an industry that can be traced back to Agent Orange and the Vietnam War. Whoop, where's my tuque...

Here's a few "common household" pesticides that should be safely disposed of at the North Shore Transfer Station @ 30 Riverside Drive (turn in at the Paint/Metal disposal yard right before the main entrance with the truck scales etc.). 604-929-0372

All disrupt the functions of human/birds/bees/fish in silent invisible lethal ways. I know I'm being general and fear-mongering by listing some effects, but it is well-placed fear-mongering: asthma/reproductive toxicity/ADHD/neural toxicity/endocrine disruptors/estrogen enhancers/carcinogens etc.

2-4-D*(active ingredient in WeednFeed/Killex)--herbicide
Diazinon--insecticide
Glyphosate (active ingredient in Roundup)--systemic herbicide
Carbaryl (active ingredient in Sevin)--insecticide
Malathion--insecticide
Chlorpyrifos (active ingredient in Dursban)--insecticide
*not kidding: ingredient in Agent Orange

The point being: chemicals are rated according to lethal dosages, not toxic accumulation over time and in combination with other substances in the environment. It is well known that, once in the environment, chemicals metabolize into substances that are different (and possibly more toxic) than their original formulation. And if a chemical cocktail enters an environment, each substance of low toxicity on its own, the combination can wipe out, for example, the fish fry/tadpoles in local waterbodies, to the bemusement of all.

Several years ago (2005-ish) I was working in a back garden when I experienced the tingly-tongue sensation I've since come to recognize as pesticide drift. Going around to the front, I saw a Lawn Care Dude (with a tanker on his truck) expertly pacing across the lawn, applying his wares. Not only was I in the vicinity, but a pregnant neighbour was chatting with the owner's daughter on the driveway. Even at that time, pesticide applicators were supposed to clear the area, and post signs advising re-entry times. I asked the young man what he was spraying, and he told me the classic lawn cocktail: 2-4-D, dicamba, and mecaprop, which was "perfectly safe" because he "sprays it all day, every day." Ya, that's a good indicator.

I went home and looked it up, discovering that 2-4-D in particular disrupts the nervous system, is associated with Agent Orange, and pregnant women are prohibited from applying it. Of note: the owner of the house, RIP, was afflicted with Lou Gehrig's Disease, a mysterious neurodegenerative disease in which the sufferer gradually loses all motor control. When I told them what was being applied to their lawn, they promptly stopped the service, because this was a particularly important time to keep the environment toxin-free.

The "mystery" in our human diseases may be solved when we recognize the enormous blindspots of a culture that is just learning to expand from linear to lateral thinking. What goes around comes around.

A great resource for alternatives to chemical-cocktail gardening is the North Shore Recycling Program educational website: http://www.gardensmart.ca/

And here's a helpful, readable list I found under the Nelson bylaw, of all places, of exempted pesticides that we can STILL USE.

Exempted Pesticides
The following substances are exempted from the provisions of this Bylaw:
(1) a product that uses pheromones to lure Pests, sticky media to trap Pests or quick-kill traps for vertebrate species considered Pests such as mice and rats; and,
(2) a product that is, or contains, any of the following active ingredients:
(a) a soap (insecticidal/herbicidal);
(b) a mineral oil, also called dormant or horticultural oil;
(c) Silicon dioxide, also called diatomaceous earth;
(d) Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis), nematodes and other biological control organisms;
(e) borax, also called boric acid or boracic acid;
(f) ferric phosphate;
(g) acetic acid;
(h) pyrethrum or pyrethrins;
(i) fatty acids;
(j) animal repellents;
(k) sulphur (ex: Bordeaux mixture and Lime Sulphur);
(l) fertilizers which do not contain chemical or synthetic pesticides within the meaning of the federal Pest Control Products Act;
(m)dormant or horticultural oils;
(n) pheromone traps;
(o) diatomaceous earth (silicon dioxide);
(p) pruning paint;
(q) non toxic sticky media; or
(r) any other substances approved through the Canadian General Standards Board for Organic Agriculture will be deemed permitted pesticides.