By Jennifer Madigan
Ottawa residents will learn something new about taking care of their lawn this summer when the city launches its $400,000 public education campaign, part of the city’s pesticide reduction strategy.
The education campaign will use money from the health department, the provincial health program, and the planning and development services departments to educate residents on known alternatives to pesticides, says Coun. Alex Cullen.
The use of pesticides is an issue the city has been dealing with since amalgamation, which gives them the task of harmonizing 11 policies on pesticide use into one. The city is concerned with possible health and environmental dangers that are caused by the use of pesticides.
“Because there are health concerns, and because we know there are safer alternatives,” says Cullen.
But local lawn care companies do not believe pesticides cause problems and are concerned with the idea of a complete ban on pesticide use.
Cullen says the city is using the money budgeted for the campaign for market research to find out what information is already available and to figure out how to approach the campaign.
He thinks the city will put ads in different media such as buses or newspapers.
Coun. Elisabeth Arnold is hoping the city will to do more face-to-face education through community seminars, or people going door to door.
Arnold says there are two pesticides issues that people need to think about – potential effects on human health, and long term effects on the environment.
There have been no studies that link pesticide use in urban areas and long-term health effects, although it is known that pesticide use affects people with asthma and environmental sensitivities.
“The number (of people) that would get wiped out for a day if your neighbor were to spray unexpectedly would probably be five per cent, that’s a lot of people,” says John Sankey, co-chair of The Health Dangers of Urban Use of Pesticides, an advisory group to the health department.
One visible environmental effect is the death of robins, due to eating worms from lawns sprayed with pesticides.
“Wildlife doesn’t stay on one little plot,” says Sankey, who has seen the number of butterflies in his backyard dwindle when a neighbor sprays a pesticide.
The city already banned the cosmetic use of pesticides on city property last May.
Thom Bourne is the owner of Nutri-Lawn, a local lawn care company.
He says licensed pesticide use is safe for everyone, even children.
“You’re assuming that these products are causing us problems. When these products are applied properly they don’t cause us problems,” says Bourne.
He worries that residents may use pesticides on their own if there is a ban and will not follow the proper directions for a safe application.
Bourne says a healthy lawn offers many benefits such as producing oxygen, preventing soil erosion, as well as providing a safe place for kids to play and a nice place to relax.
“When I get home and finally get a break in the weekend, the quiet enjoyment of me sitting down and relaxing on a nicely kept landscape is very important.”
If the city bans all cosmetic use of pesticides, residents will turn to organic methods.
Bourne says organic fertilizer can create a healthy lawn and reduce the reliance on traditional products, but a lawn must be treated with pesticides to get rid of harmful bugs that can destroy your grass by eating the roots.
The public education campaign will be finished by the fall, and the city will then consider drafting a municipal ban on the use of pesticides, says Cullen.