A notice has been posted on the provincial government’s environmental registry calling for comment on the “Notice of intent to introduce legislation that would ban the cosmetic use of pesticides in Ontario.”
The deadline for input is February 17. For information on the proposed legislation, and to comment click here.
The environmental registry contains “public notices” about environmental matters being proposed by all government ministries covered by the Environmental Bill of Rights. The public notices may contain information about proposed new laws, regulations, policies and programs or about proposals to change or eliminate existing ones.
The pesticide ban legislation EBR Registry Number is 010-2248
Landscape Ontario’s official position on the proposed legislation follows below. It is important that the green industry sends a clear consistent message. Members looking for a guideline to follow regarding their response can click here.
Briefing Note:
Landscape Ontario Position on Provincial Pesticide Ban Legislation
Background
• The Government of Ontario has announced the intention to ban the “cosmetic” use of pesticides.
• The expectation is that this will apply to weed control in all lawn and garden applications including homeowner use.
• Golf courses and agricultural use have been specifically exempted.
• The Ministry of Environment are in the midst of a public/stakeholder comment period ending February 17, 2008. Please click to comment here.
• This brief summarizes the landscape industry position on the proposed “Provincial ban on cosmetic pesticide use.”
General Position
The landscape industry is responsible for the design, installation and maintenance of Ontario’s green infrastructure and the growing and retailing of landscape plants. We care about environmental stewardship, the health of our customers, employees and the community.
We support the introduction of province-wide pesticide regulation to harmonize rules. The current patchwork of municipal regulations does not provide a consistent level of public protection. It also results in a confusing operating environment for plant care professionals.
In order to be effective and fair the new legislation must address a number of areas of significant concern:
1. New legislation must enhance standards of application and apply to all users of pesticides. Restrictions which target professional applicators while allowing untrained individuals to purchase and apply products on their own property will fail the intent of the legislation. This has been seen in many jurisdictions.
2. The Province has the scientific expertise to develop consistent and meaningful evidence-based standards. Municipalities have limited resources in these areas and (as the current patchwork of different rules illustrate) sometimes respond to purely political pressures for “action” warranted or not.
3. The legislation should promote innovation and consider the real impact of different products rather than assuming that all pest control products are the same. New products which utilize different vectors of control and/or have little or no environmental impact should not be caught in the same net as traditional pesticides.
4. Different standards for pesticide sign-posting regulations can also be misleading as the same sign must be used for newer reduced-risk pesticides as well as older traditional pesticides. In addition, regulations do not permit the sign to indicate the amount of product used or location of the property treated (i.e. spot -treatment versus entire lawn treated).
5. In recent decades, North America has suffered through waves of new pest infestations from weeds, insects and diseases. Legislation that restricts the ability to protect the landscape and green infrastructure from serious infestations will not be in the public interest.
6. Science is on the verge of developing a new generation of control products. Action by the province to stimulate and support such development can place Ontario in the vanguard of both environmental protection and economic development. At the very least the new legislation should not be a barrier to the development and use of green-tract products.
Solutions
1. The legislation should ensure a level playing field for all sectors and apply to the entire horticultural landscape. It must ensure the highest level of environmental and public protection by applying equally to professional application of pesticides and sale of do-it-yourself (domestic) products.
2. Municipalities should be required to conform to provincial standards and prohibited from introducing their own variations of regulations or further restrictions of products.
3. Products should be categorized by risk and benefit in order to establish a banned/restricted list of active ingredients.
4. Sign posting regulations should reflect the product’s risk and benefit categorization. The sign format and posting requirement should be standardized to prevent confusion. It should also be reasonable and informative to the public.
5. Provision should be made for controlling pest infestations that are deemed a potential risk to the plant/turf health, the environment or the public.
6. The province should provide incentives and work cooperatively with all stakeholders to research and develop effective alternative pest control methods, including biological-based controls, new generations of non-residual chemicals and advanced application methods.
