Re: “Approach to pesticide ban refreshing” (Salmon Arm Observer May 10)
Thank you for your recent article supporting a ban on lawn pesticides across B. C. Our doctors’ organization believes this legislation is very much needed. One of the things we’ve learned in Ontario is that pesticide bans are not only helpful to human health and the environment, they’re also good for employment. And that’s not just the view of environmentalists, it’s also what industry is saying.
Just before Ontario’s Cosmetic Pesticides Ban Act came into effect in 2009, the owner of a major lawn care franchise in southern Ontario said he “expects to hire more people this year because the organic methods are more labour-intensive and require inspection and removal of remaining weeds.” He added: “We have no issues at all.
We’ve completely switched to organic products.”
There is every reason to believe a pesticide ban in B.C. would be a win-win-win situation as well: good for health, good for job-creation, good for business.
Gideon Forman, Executive Director
Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment