PRESENTATION TO AD HOC COMMITTEE



CITY CLERK'S DEPARTMENT



NON-ESSENTIAL PESTICIDE REDUCTION





My name is Mary Jane Eason.  I am a community nutritionist.  I serve on the
Winnipeg Regional Health Authority Advisory Council and helped start an
Environment committee at my church.  Those of us who are supporting the
introduction of a pesticide by-law are deeply rooted in the community and
come from a variety of ethnic, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds.  We
all share a concern for our environment and we are here to exercise our
democratic right to speak out on issues that pertain to the common good.  It
is not only a right but also a moral responsibility to do so.  There is no
doubt that in this time of history, the biggest threat to our health and
that of the eco-system stems from human behaviour.  One of these behaviours
is the unregulated use of pesticides.



I feel that the issue of pesticide use and regulation should be put into
perspective.  Each period of history it seems had its own issues.  The
concern over the wonton destruction of wildlife and wildlife habitat was the
spark that led naturalists in the 1800s' to work for the preservation and
conservation of wildlife and wild spaces and led to the formation of
conservation organizations such as the Audubon Society and many others later
on such as the World Wild Life Fund.



The use of pesticides and other chemicals constitutes an assault on nature,
which we can no longer condone.  Our dependence on pesticides has created a
monster with many heads, a veritable hydra of issues and the non-essential
use of pesticides is only one of the hydra heads.   For the protection of
our health and that of other sentient beings, I strongly support a ban on
the cosmetic use of pesticides.  I will focus on a few points to make my
case against pesticides.   It is just plain common sense to ban pesticides.
There is nothing unusual about banning something that is harmful. Other
cities have done so and more will do so over time.  Take smoking for
example.  All kinds of laws have been enacted to minimize exposure to
second-hand smoke.  We cannot see the carcinogens in smoke and the tobacco
companies are yet to admit that smoking leads to cancer, but the
understanding of the dangers of smoking, based on numerous scientific
studies was the impetus to ban public smoking.



At the bottom of the pesticide issue, is a value system that does not
respect creation.  It reflects an ignorance of the fact that everything is
interconnected.  What we do has an effect on all things.  The loss of a
species affects whole ecosystems and us, whether we recognize this or not.
Should our pollinating insects disappear, we would surely starve for lack of
food.



Nearly 75% of the pesticides used in green space maintenance sector are
applied to eliminate what we call undesirable plants on lawns.  Pesticides
have a negative impact on biodiversity.  They eliminate and harm beneficial
organisms.  Turf grass just isn't natural and survives only under artificial
conditions.  The so-called "perfect lawn" is actually an impoverished plant
community, - one that requires ample chemical fertilizers and pesticides.  A
good lawn is gentle to creatures like birds and predator insects thus
helping control lawn problems.  It is a different sensual kind of lawn
pleasant and safe to walk on barefoot.  It is kind to children who tumble or
roll on it without fear.  It is safe for the family dog or cat to walk on.
In our city, as long as the non-essential use of pesticides are unregulated,
we will not have safe lawns or playgrounds.



Pesticides are deliberately added to the environment for the purpose of
killing or injuring some form of life.  To quote Environment Canada, 1987
"Pesticides are poisons or they wouldn't kill------".  These poisons end up
in our water and air as well, continuing their unseen legacy of poisoning.



Dr. Winchester and colleagues from the Indiana School of Medicine studied
over 27 million American births occurring between 1996 and 2002 and found
that premature birth rates peaked when levels of pesticides and nitrates in
surface water were at their highest from April to July and were lowest when
the chemicals were also at their lowest levels in August to September.  The
correlation between premature birth rates and levels of nitrates and
pesticides was independent of the mother's age, education, marital status,
alcohol consumption and smoking status.  The link was also independent of
whether the mothers lived in urban, sub urban or rural places.  Dr.
Winchester and his team revealed that in an earlier 4-year study into
pregnancy outcomes in Indiana and the U.S. significant links were made
between seasonal levels of pesticides and nitrates in surface and drinking
water and seasonal levels of birth defects.



Dr. James Lemons, Hugh McKLanden, Professor of Pediatrics and director of
the section on neonatal -perinatal medicine at the Indiana University School
of Medicine said this of Dr. Winchester's findings:



"I believe this work may lay the foundation for some of the most important
basic and clinical research and public health initiatives of our time"  "To
recognize that what we put into our environment has potential pandemic
effects on pregnancy outcome and possible on child development is a
momentous observation, which hopefully will help transform the way humanity
cares for its world"



We know and see the effects of alcohol on the fetus and the life long
consequences a child faces because his or her parents consumed alcohol
during a critical phase of fetal development.  During these critical times,
chemicals such as pesticides can have their most devastating effects on
development.  Pesticides present in maternal blood can cross the placenta to
the fetus and can disrupt the endocrine hormones in the developing fetus.
Hormones are chemical messengers that signal and initiate many of the body's
systems.  They tell the body when to grow or to stop growing; they initiate
sexual development and sexual differentiation; they are responsible for our
metabolism and reproduction and ultimately for future generations.
Pesticides can mimic hormones by binding to hormone receptor sites and
triggering unpredictable results.  Biologists have been sounding the alarm
of the feminization of nature, and the discovery of scrambled sexual organs
amongst various animals from crocodiles to panthers, making their
reproduction impossible.  There is preliminary evidence of similar effects
in human populations.    The book "Our Stolen Future" is a compilation of
scientific findings of scientists across the world all pointing in the same
direction, that pesticides among other chemicals are hormone disruptors, the
effects of which will be evidenced in future generations.



Cancer is a big concern and the cancer rate is rising.  There is a direct
link between pesticide exposure and cancer.  Individual survival is
threatened by cancer but species survival is threatened by hormone
disruption.



Other types of chronic effects that have been associated with pesticides
include effects on development, fertility, the immune system, the
neurological system and behaviour.  ADD has been related to pesticide
exposure in a number of studies.



Recent studies from Washington provide evidence that pesticides can cause
Parkinson's disease.  One study showed that farm workers who used paraquat
had 2 or 3 times the normal incidence of Parkinson's disease and exposure to
another pesticide dieldrin also raised the risk of getting Parkinson's
disease.  Inflammation in the brain is an effect of pesticide exposure
(remember that pesticides are neuro toxins) and systemic inflammation may
sensitize the brain leading to Parkinson's disease.



The Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA) is concerned about the
dangers and is pushing for regulation of pesticide drift, which is the
movement of pesticides through the air, away form the area that they were
applied.  High concentrations of pesticides drift can cause immediate
(acute) poisonings resulting in serious illness.  Exposure may cause birth
defects, cancer, asthma, developmental disabilities and other long-term
chronic health effects.  Pesticide drift can also harm the local environment
by contaminating waterways, air and soil, killing fish, birds and other
wildlife.



People who live near farms, in the city or suburbs can all be affected by
drift.  Pesticides sprayed onto a school sports field may drift into the
classroom.  When someone applies pesticides to the garden it may drift into
their neighbours's yards.  Pesticides can travel long distances, even fifty
miles away from where they were applied.  There are two types of drift,
spray drift and post application drift.  Spray drift occurs during and
immediately after an application.  Application drift occurs after the
application is completed.  This type of drift may be the result of
volatilization drift whereby the pesticide evaporates into a gas and travels
long distances.  It is invisible.  Another type of post application drift is
drift of pesticide-coated dust particles, which can be seen as clouds of
dust and ends up in our yards and parks and settles out.  Children are most
vulnerable to this kind of drift.

Ingestion of soil and dust containing pesticides can be an important route
of exposure for young children.  Pesticide and pesticide coated dust
particles will be tracked into the house and deposited into carpets where
they are slower to break down than they would outside.

In addition to the pesticide's active ingredient, virtually all formulated
pesticide products contain "inert' substances.  Pesticide products often
contain more of the inert ingredients than they do the active ingredient
itself.   But the word "inert" does not mean that the substance is
biologically, chemically or toxicologically inert.  It just means the
substance is not designed to kill the target pest.  Some inerts cause
adverse effects for example xylene used as solvents in many pesticide
products causes eye irritation, lung inflammation, nausea and leukemia.
Exposure to inerts is likely to be significant since they usually appear in
pesticide formulations.  "Inert" ingredients of pesticide products do not
have to be disclosed and there are no requirements for toxicity testing of
"inerts".  The synergistic effect of all these chemicals is not fully
understood but biologists are concerned about the accumulation over time of
small exposures of many kinds of chemicals in biological systems.



There are alternatives to pesticides and there are healthy alternatives to
pesticides for lawn care.  Cosmetic pesticides should be banned because they
are not necessary and because they affect everyone adversely.  Let's follow
the lead of progressive communities and enact a pesticide by law.  We will
be pleasantly surprised at the positive changes we will see in our own
health and that of other creatures.  It was done for smoking and it can be
done for pesticides.

Submitted by

Mary Jane Eason  Phone: 772-1931



Sources:



Brochure: The Pesticides Management Code.  Protecting the environment in our
green spaces.  Quebec.



Brochure: Pesticide Management Code: Highlights.  Quebec.



Brochure: Pesticides Management Code.  Do you wish you could roll in the
grass?



Pesticides and Your Child.  An Overview of Exposures and Risks.  Campaign
for Pesticide Reduction, Winnipeg



Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA).  Pesticide Drift Home.
http.//www.panna.org/campaigns/drift.html



PANNA. The Science of Drift.
http://www.panna.org/campaigns/driftscience.html.



Catharine Paddock: Medical News Today. U.S. Premature Births Linked to
Increases In Pesticides and Nitrates in Water. http://www.medicalnews
today.com/healthnews.php?newsid=70400.



Studies Line Up Parkinson's Pesticides Link.  U. S. April, 23, 2007.



World Wildlife Fund, 1997.  Pesticides, Agriculture and the Environment:
Avoiding Hormone Disrupting Pesticides. Fact Sheet.  Toronto, Ontario.



U.S. National Research Council, 1993.  Pesticides in the Diets of Infants
and Children.  National Academy Press.  Washington D.C.



Theo Colborn, Dianne Dumanoski and John Peterson Myers.  "Our Stolen Future"
.  Published by The Penguin Group, 1997.