Weeding out the harmful effects of pesticide.(GREEN REPORT)

The Ontario government's province-wide cosmetic pesticide ban will take effect on April 22, and Mike Wisniewski, owner/operator of Sudbury's Weed Man, is upset because the provincial government handled implementation "very poorly."

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The pesticide ban is part of a government commitment to reduce toxins and protect public health, said Kate Jordan, Ontario Ministry of the Environment spokesperson.

"The whole purpose of it is to protect public health and the environment from toxins that are unnecessary," Jordan said. "So, cosmetic pesticides are not a necessary or needed chemical, and therefore, why put them out into the environment if they pose a risk to public health?"

Wisniewski said there are benefits to maintaining a healthy lawn.

"The average sized lawn gives off enough oxygen to supply a family of four," Wisniewski said. A healthy lawn also has a "tremendous cooling effect," when compared to dirt or gravel.

Regarding public health risks, Wisniewski said Health Canada has reported pesticides are safe when used properly and calls this new pesticide ban "mixed messages."

Wisniewski has talked to scientists in the past at conferences and he said the message he got from them was, "the risk is in the dose."

Wisniewski is licenced to use pesticides and knows how to use them properly, "these products, properly used, are safe," he said.

Wisniewski used the example of Gravol as a comparison, he said Gravol is more toxic then any pesticide he has ever used, "but in the right dose, it's a medicine."

Wisniewski said education on chemical and organic products is necessary.

When fliers were sent around Long Lake from the stewardship committee telling people not to fertilize their lawns because of blue-green algae, Wisniewski said they did not talk to him.

Wisniewski has fertilizers without phosphates specifically for those living on the water in order to prevent blue-green algae. He also has organic fertilizers.

"So we're bringing in products that are very environmentally friendly," Wisniewski said.

However Wisniewski said these products are more expensive and more labour intensive.

With a chemical fertilizer, all one has to do is spray the lawn with the product. Wisniewski said use of these new products involves special backpacks full of the product and walking across the lawn, spreading it where needed. Then the customer is required to water their lawn to activate the product.

Wisniewski said he has absorbed half the increased cost and passed the other half onto his customer. He has also needed to buy new equipment to use the products. The previously mentioned backpacks cost $600 each and Wisniewski has needed to buy seven.

Wisniewski said he has had no support from the government to support these new environmentally friendly products.

Wisniewski said he was happy to use environmentally friendly products but said a weed free lawn is a thing of the past.

"It'll be more of a weed maintenance (plan)," Wisniewski said. "It'll be impossible to get every single weed, no one's going to be able to buy that service."

Continual maintenance of lawns with fertilizer, as well as aeration and seeding, will be "essential."

Jordan expects the ban to increase demand for environmentally friendly products and services.

Wisniewski said the provincial government has not told him what he should be using to control pests.

"All they've been doing is taking away, they haven't said what is available," Wisniewski said.

Jordan said the ministry is supporting new research into environmentally friendly alternatives and says this will help stimulate economic growth and job creation.

There is an exception in the ban for farms and a conditional exemption for golf courses, and "biopesticides" and "low-risk pesticides" are still permitted under the ban.

www.pesticides.org

By TIM PERRY

For Northern Ontario Business

Print Get the Mag Weekly Updates