LETTER — Business group’s stand on pesticides disappointing

LETTER — I was disappointed by the North Shore Business Improvement Association challenge to Coun. Tina Lange’s proposed bylaw change to ban the cosmetic use of pesticides in home gardens. Mr. Puhallo says that he was concerned about the impact this amendment will have on local, established businesses in the community. Yet, in Ontario, which established a province-wide ban five years ago, the following things occurred:

1. Companies who embraced the changes in Ontario were thriving and very busy. Companies who did not, went out of business.

2. There was no large-scale closure of commercial lawn care companies.

3. In Toronto, landscaping services went up slightly between 2001 and 2006 despite a pesticide ban in 2004.

Therefor, Mr. Puhallo’s contention that the proposed bylaw would put local businesses and their employees at risk is incorrect.

I’m also wondering why Mr. Puhallo supports companies that use poisons in landscape maintenance when there are all sorts of alternatives. The City of Kamloops has a fabulous website that explains the use of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) to manage pests and care for lawns. Landscape companies should be using, promoting and educating their customers about these IPM alternatives.

Mr. Puhalo states that homeowners would go out and buy readily available pesticides and do it themselves. If landscape companies offer alternatives, why would homeowners do this? We could also mitigate this possibility by pressuring retailers to do the ethical and moral thing by keeping these poisons behind closed doors – just as tobacco sellers are made to do. In fact, this issue is very much like the tobacco story, don’t you think? We were once told by Health Canada that cigarette smoking was OK. My Dad paid the price of that narrative.

Mr. Puhalo asks, “Why target private residences that have shrubs, flowers, ornamental plants, green grass and trees? Shouldn’t we be encouraging home owners to keep their properties tidy and attractive?” There are many gardeners in Kamloops who do not use chemical pesticides and have attractive gardens. So the idea that pesticides are required to keep our urban spaces thriving and beautiful is quite illogical. Not using pesticides is the common-sense thing to do, because there ARE alternatives. Passing this bylaw is important for the environment and our health and is the common sense, moral and ethical thing to do.

ELAINE SEDGMAN

Kamloops