In March of this year the province passed a little known law, the Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, which enables the Minster of Environment to regulate certain pesticides differently than other pesticides.
The new law follows the government’s consultation on cosmetic pesticide use in 2009-10 that generated 8,000 responses from residents and business groups. The issue: restricting or eliminating the province-wide use of pesticides that maintain the visual appearance of ornamental plants, and herbicides used for weed control. On one side is the anti-pesticide movement comprised of moms, dads and their children, doctors (cape.ca), anti-pesticide activist groups (panna.org) and scientists (davidsuzuki.org/issues/health/science/pesticides) whom believe that pesticide use has become so widespread that it’s now affecting the environment, food supply and children. On the other side are multinational big-agri and big-chem businesses (croplife.ca/about-us/members) that believe pesticides when used as directed are safe and provide benefits for society. If you follow such issues, you will know there will not be a provincial ban of cosmetic pesticides in B.C. Instead we will be subject to new regulations as follows, “The Ministry of Environment intends to amend the Integrated Pest Management Regulation to ensure that most pesticides used in landscaped areas are applied by trained people. Amendments to the regulation will also change the way domestic class pesticides are sold and update the schedule of excluded pesticides.” (Source: env.gov.bc.ca/epd/codes/ipmr/index.htm).
The use of pesticides and their affects in the environment and the food supply system has become a matter of survival for people around the world. To understand the scope of pesticide use in the world, learn for yourself the struggle going on all over the world to restrict or eliminate pesticide use and how people are fighting for every piece of earth and legislation to help save their gardens, food supply and parks from the widespread use of pesticides. It’s a war out there.
The use of pesticides in all stages of food production and in aspects of commercial and residential landscape maintenance has grown steadily over the last 20 years into the range of “millions of metric tonnes annually” despite concerns from people worldwide. If you think you’re safe because you live in Canada where modern pesticide laws prevent exposure, think again. Pesticides are regulated and used regularly in Canadian and American agricultural production. If you are buying fruits or vegetables from developing countries like Mexico, Chile or China where environmental protection laws and pesticide regulations are less robust than here at home, you are more likely to be eating pesticide residue from the older, more toxic pesticides that have been de-registered or banned here in Canada.
Humanity has become dependant, or rather addicted, to the use of pesticides in the production of food. Broccoli, cucumber, carrots, onions, potatoes, apples, wheat, strawberries, bananas and many other food crops are sprayed with pesticides, fungicides or herbicides. Find the information for yourself by visiting the Pesticide Action Network’s website whatsonmyfood.org and choose one of the foods listed on the menu on the right side of the page to see what pesticide residue is on your food. Washing fruits and vegetables before eating them is strongly recommended today, but washing only removes surface residue, it does not remove pesticides that have been metabolized by the crop. When governments only listen to business and continue to allow pesticide use on food crops, people find ways to protect themselves, hence the exploding growth in organically grown food crops in Canada and around the world.
I suppose the question for North Shore residents, whom already benefit from various forms of municipal pesticide restriction, is why should I care? Because pesticides drift, leach, adhere and bio-integrate themselves into our world’s life support ecosystems while not respecting any form of property line, boundary or border. As well, the B.C. government’s review of pesticide regulation will change the classification of pesticides, either allowing use of some pesticides over the counter to anyone, or restricting use of some pesticides to certified applicators only. Therefore the status quo is not changing it is being regulated differently, meaning the range of pesticides and volumes applied will likely not decrease.
But there’s always another chance to make change happen.
B.C.’s Ministry of the Environment has developed a “Policy Intentions Paper for Consultation” for the Integrated Pest Management Regulation. The purpose of the paper is to describe the ministry’s proposed policy direction and invite comments from the public and stakeholders. Here’s the important part — the comment period is open until Dec. 8. Visit env.gov.bc.ca to voice your opinion. After all, it may be safe to go into your own garden but be careful when visiting other gardens to avoid picking up pesticide residue on your shoes and be mindful of what your children touch.
Todd Major is a journeyman horticulturist, garden designer and builder, teacher and organic advocate. For advice contact him at [email protected].
