LETTER – Keeping weeds under control often depends on neighbours
City uses pesticides on certain kinds of weeds. (Image: City of Kamloops)
An open letter to Bronwen Scott reference a comment she left on May 16, 2024.
The comment was regarding the use of a mixture of Picloram and 2,4-D pesticide and the information of its use from the city’s pesticide report. That mixture of pesticide (herbicide by another name) is used to control weeds that are hard to control by any other means. (Bindweed, thistle, smartweed, wild garlic, Curly dock, tansy ragwort and wild onion according to one source)
The locations given are of special interest.
In an urban setting, attempting to control weeds on one’s lawn is frustrating when a person looks around and sees other lawns covered in weeds that will soon go to seed. Some of those seeds are bound to be transported to the lawn that is being well maintained. It’s way easier to control the weeds in a lawn that is not surrounded by other lawns where the weeds are not controlled.
Back home, as a teenager, we grew cucumbers under contract for Bick’s Pickles. I did a lot of weed control through the use of a hoe. Backbreaking work in the hot sun. Some of the weeds came from seeds from adjoining farmland where weeds were left to mature and “went to seed”. Had those weeds only been kept under control, it would have meant a bit less hoeing for teenaged guys.
Thanks for your comment, Bronwen.
JOHN NOAKES
Citizen of Westmount
ArmchairMayor.ca 
The City could definitely experiment with more benign concoctions of much safer chemicals like salt, vinegar and others to control weeds. They could also tighten intervals between bouts of weed control using mechanical methods of weed eradication. But that means rescinding with the current mindset therefore McCorkell has to go. That man is no friend of innovation.
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So, the overspray may have gone onto vegetables growing in the fields or what time of year did this spraying take place?
More questions popping up about the common sense of doing this type of spraying of pesticides in that particular location.
Was your information obtained from a FOI request?
Thanks…….
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On July 27, 2020 the city used Grazon XC (picloram and 2,4-D) and in 2022 sprayed Clearview (aminopyralid–very mobile in soils and aquatic environments– along Dairy Road. If Dieter’s plants had been contaminated by either of these products the plants would have died or been damaged. You’d have to ask Dieter if this occurred.
The city sprays in spring, summer and fall. Except for 2020. the records I have been able to obtain from the city don’t list specific dates so it’s unknown to me when Dairy Road was sprayed in 2022.
I did get more detailed records for 2020 through an FOI request but they were very expensive.
As for common sense: in 2020 (and likely other years, but I’m not rich enough to buy the records) the city sprayed Grazon XC (cancer, developmental abnormalities etc) in a tot lot and sprayed it on the Riverside tennis courts, apparently because “pedestrian traffic was too heavy” to use a weedwhacker. The applicators were apparently worried more about the effects of flying gravel than the use of a very toxic pesticide and didn’t feel like cordoning off the tennis courts (more work I guess) while they used the weedwhacker.
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You are very passionate about this, Bronwen. In these last few days you have provided an education to people; we are indebted to you.
I feel that a follow-up article could be done by Mel through an interview with Dieter about the spraying along Dairy Road. Such an interview could indeed provide information from the perspective of a fellow who has an organic farm well within “range” of being directly affected by toxic pesticides.
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This article title is actually a metaphor for city council. It takes a village to keep these out of control weeds in check.
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Thank you, John. The city noted in an email to me that the main weeds they are trying to control with pesticides are dandelions and plantain, both of which are edible and not on the noxious weeds list. These can be controlled with non-toxic alternatives like steam, hoeing and other means, including much less toxic pesticides like citrus extract.
Picloram contains hexachlorobenzene as an inextricable contaminant. Hexachlorobenzene is one of the UN’s top ten organic pollutants of concern, is known to cause cancer, and should not be used where children play (though Kamloops uses it on playing fields, in parks, etc) http://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/management-toxic-substances/list-canadian-environmental-protection-act/hexachlorobenzene.html
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The spray used beside the farm you mentioned…..was it on City-owned land? Who made the decision to spray there and why? Was there overspray?
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Yes, it was the roadside. The city’s Civic Operations dept is responsible for spraying. Overspray (drift) is a problem, as is leaching, particularly since the river is close by. In 2020, the city sprayed picloram and 2,4-D on McArthur Island using a truck-mounted boom sprayer, despite the fact that the pesticide used should not be sprayed near water bodies or close to water level due to leaching of toxins
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I should add that picloram one of the ingredients of Grazon XC, the pesticide formulation used widely by the city, is highly mobile in soils, stays active for over 5 years, and has been found in wells miles from the treatment site. The hexachlorobenzene attached to it is highly volatile, so releases to the air during/after application. The other component of Grazon XC is 2,4-D which is linked to various cancers, birth defects and other diseases. 2,4-D is also an ingredient in several other pesticides used by the city in public spaces for cosmetic purposes.
Ontario, Nova Scotia and Quebec have banned all cosmetic use of 2,4-D. Prince George, Nanaimo, Vancouver and West Vancouver don’t use cosmetic herbicides in public areas at all. Kamloops, on the other hand, uses an average of about 150 kg of pesticide concentrates every year, often in the same places, like tennis courts, baseball and soccer fields, and the like.
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Why is the city spraying toxic chemicals where the citizens are? Is it not enough that the administration is negligent and ineffective? Is it possible to complain to provincial or federal environmental regulatory bodies?
I wouldn’t have heard this, and so much more city and council nonsense if not for the Armchair Mayor, and the concerned citizens of this town that expect so much better from the city, but get so little.
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To Bill Thot: Provincial and federal legislation doesn’t allow for complaints about city pesticide use. The last time Kamloops residents were allowed an opportunity to find out about and have input on city pesticide use was 1999–25 years ago. The city has had requests for public consultation and even agreed at one point, then reneged.
A major reason given by city hall for so much pesticide use in public areas is that someone could sue the city if they tripped over a weed. However, I have exhaustively researched federal and provincial court cases and could not find one instance where someone successfully or unsuccessfully sued a municipality b/c they tripped over a weed. I get that the city wants pretty playing fields but so many other public areas are also sprayed. This city is addicted to pesticides.
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