Written by CBC News Online staff
TORONTO - Toronto city council has approved a controversial bylaw that restricts the use of pesticides for cosmetic purposes on public and private property.
The city will start by launching a public education campaign aimed at
discouraging people from using pesticides, which can include herbicides,
insecticides and fungicides.
The bylaw won't be fully implemented until 2006 – a year later than
originally planned – when $250 fines will be levied for ignoring the ban.
Beginning next year, people will receive warnings.
Only organic methods would be allowed to fight the dandelions and other
weeds.
However, pesticides can still be used to guard against West Nile virus,
infestations and allergens.
Hudson is one of about 60 Canadian city municipalities that have enacted
partial or full bans on cosmetic lawn pesticides.
Fines for ignoring the law range between $500 and $30,000.
Banning pesticides has been a thorny issue for Canadian cities, with
anti-pesticide advocates saying the chemicals can cause diseases such as
Parkinson's and the industry arguing the need to keep lawns free of weeds and
bugs.
On the way out in Toronto?
After making a series of amendments to the bylaw, council voted 26 to 16 in
favour of the bylaw. The vote marked an end to two days of acrimonious debate
and months of intense lobbying.
The movement to ban the use of pesticides for cosmetic purposes has been
gathering momentum since June 2001, when the Supreme Court of Canada upheld a
bylaw passed by the town of Hudson, Quebec, in 1991.
Many of these cities forbid the use of pesticides near day-care centres, schools
and summer camps but do not affect farmers.
http://www.cbc.ca/storyview/CBC/2003/05/23/to_ban030523
