By Julie Fortier
A pesticide ban on private property may be delayed but it is not dead, say city council health committee members.
Instead of an immediate ban, the committee recommended at a marathon meeting late last month, “targets to put mandatory labelling on sales of products in stores and to have an education campaign,” said Baseline Ward Coun. Rick Chiarelli.
Targets like increased awareness of the harmful effects of pesticides and a reduction in use are being looked at instead of a ban. In a five-three vote, councillors of the health committee decided that if these targets are not met by 2005. It would recommend that the city then enact a bylaw for 2006.
Sandra Schwartz, manager of the environment and child health program at Pollution Probe Ottawa, spoke at the meeting to urge a total ban but said she was not surprised by the outcome.
“For the most part, I think that it was an appropriate way to go based on the diversity of the opinions from the community, although personally I certainly would have been more supportive of a ban in 2003,” she said.
Somerset Ward Coun. Elisabeth Arnold voted for the immediate ban but said she also understands her colleagues’ decision. “I didn’t hear anybody say that they didn’t agree that a bylaw was an appropriate tool for the city of Ottawa, they just seem to be saying that the time wasn’t right.”
Chiarelli said there were several reasons for not implementing a total or even partial ban. He says residents would not follow a bylaw because according to a research poll of the Ottawa region, only half the population believes pesticides are harmful to human health. This compares to 90 per cent who believed smoking was harmful when the smoking bylaw was passed.
This might be remedied by the new education campaign, which Chiarelli hopes will be more specific than the “this is a beautiful lawn” campaign in which he says the city tried to influence rather than educate people.
“It would make more sense to say, ‘Mrs. Bisson [who has severe chemical allergies and spoke at the meeting] has to wear a mask that looks like a welder’s mask every time her neighbour sprays chemical X, but her neighbour could spray this other product that is not going to hurt her,’” said Chiarelli.
A second reason councillors opposed the ban was because Ottawa residents were found using pesticides without even knowing it.
“Of the people who are opposed to pesticides and who claim not to use them, more than 20 per cent actually do use them and don’t realize it,” Chiarelli said. This is why the health committee is recommending mandatory labelling on all pesticide products.
This point just proves how difficult it would be to stop people from using pesticides when they do not even know what qualifies. “The thought of us having ‘lawn police’ taking soil samples from people’s private property would have looked ridiculous,” Chiarelli said.
Yet Arnold is optimistic that the city will come through with a ban eventually. She believes that the municipality has a responsibility to act because, “it directly concerns human health…[and] there is a very clear public interest.”