Letter to the editor: Islanders deserve better protection

The Guardian (Prince Edward Island)

Tuesday December 22, 2009

Page A7

Editor:

Imagine Environment Minister Richard Brown sitting at his desk with two piles of paper in front of him. One pile is the Ontario legislation banning 85 pesticide active ingredients for use on lawns and gardens. The other pile is the New Brunswick legislation banning just one pesticide. What to do, he wonders.

By then, Minister Brown has already received a petition from 4,200 Islanders asking for a ban on cosmetic pesticides. And public hearings held by his government resulted in more than 150 presentations from individuals and organizations representing thousands of Islanders demanding a ban.

Well, we all know what Minister Brown decided to do. Instead of opting to copy Ontario's legislation or do even better, he completely betrayed Islanders. He copied New Brunswick's legislation. Why would he do this? Why would he not follow Ontario's example and protect children, pets, wildlife, groundwater and waterways from these dangerous poisons?

Your guess is as good as mine but I think the Ghiz government cares more about the pesticide and industrial agriculture industry than it does about the rest of us. Both of these industries lobby hard to ensure governments don't ban pesticides.

It will be business as usual for lawn spray companies next summer. They'll lose the use of one banned pesticide, 2,4-D, but the rest of their toxic arsenal will continue to poison us. People will still be able to buy the usual pesticides in stores, except for the banned 2,4-D.

The smoke and mirrors game government played with this legislation led many people to believe 240 pesticides had been banned. In fact, most of the 240 pesticide brand-name products on the banned list are there because they contain 2,4-D. Some other brand-name products containing different pesticides are banned because they're sold as concentrates or granulars. But pre-mixed products with the same active ingredients will still be for sale in stores.

Minister Brown owes Islanders an explanation. Why did he pick the weakest legislation available? Why does his government think 12 million people in Ontario deserve more protection from toxic lawn and garden pesticides than we do?

Sharon Labchuk,
leader, Green Party of P.E.I.