N.B. residents want pesticide ban, according to poll results

March 4, 2009

Cosmetic pesticides may help lawns look nice, but a recent survey shows most New Brunswickers want them banned.

The Canadian Cancer Society, New Brunswick Lung Association and the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment released the survey results which showed 79 per cent of people surveyed support a provincial ban on cosmetic pesticides.

Conservation Council of New Brunswick science advisor Inka Milewski said she wasn't surprised by the survey results.

"We have been working on this issue for a very long time."

Several municipalities around the province have already implemented pesticide bans, including St. Andrews and Shediac, she said.

"This is the trend towards these bans and the province needs to get on board and take some leadership with this."

Milewski said the province is slated to make an announcement on cosmetic pesticide use this spring and she hopes they will initiate a ban.

"Ideally the ban should have been in effect 10 years ago or longer."

Quebec initiated a ban on cosmetic pesticide use in 2006 and Ontario included the sale of pesticides for lawn care and landscape purposes in the ban they instituted in 2008.

The scientific journal "Canadian Family Physicians" conducted a survey of studies on the effects of pesticides and concluded most showed a link between pesticides and cancer, she said.

"Children are the most vulnerable to pesticide exposure and it just makes sense to remove these from their environment."

Milewski said there is also evidence of links between pesticide use and effects on the nervous systems.

Even if signs are posted warning of pesticide use the chemicals linger for a long time and can drift when sprayed, she said. "It's just something that shouldn't be used."

Milewski said the government should do more to educate the public about the risks of pesticide use so they are aware of the dangers.

"I think part of the problem is this evidence is not as widely known or advertised as it should be," she said.

Miramichi public works director Frank Duffy said the city doesn't have a ban on pesticides, but they only use them in extreme cases.

"I think there was maybe one or two occasions where we have."

City workers either pull weeds out or cut them off instead of spraying them, but they did have a few places where there were too many for the staff to handle by hand, he said.

"It just got to the point where it was impossible to do."

Duffy said manually removing weeds does a take a lot of work.

"It places a much larger demand on our workforce when we do that."

But the public works department tries to be a good corporate citizen when it comes to cosmetic pesticide use, he said.

"Like everybody else we're concerned about the environment."

Ipsos Reid conducted the survey Dec. 5-9, 2008 and sampled 438 New Brunswickers. The poll is considered accurate with plus or minus 4.7 per cent 19 times out of 20.