This has been deferred from 2:30pm to 6:00 pm on July 11 !

URGENT: PESTICIDE BYLAW COULD BE FINALIZED JULY 11 !

HALIFAX REGIONAL COUNCIL TO DISCUSS AND POSSIBLY VOTE ON PESTICIDE BYLAW NOW

 

PESTICIDE BYLAW COULD BE FINALIZED TUESDAY JULY 11TH

[STAFF REPORT IS EXPECTED]

COUNCIL SESSION ON PESTICIDE BY-LAW BEGINS AT 6:00 PM.

IF YOU CAN, PLEASE ATTEND.

Council needs to know you care and are watching.

COUNCIL HAS A WIDE RANGE OF CHOICES (NOT ALL OF THEM ARE GOOD) THEY CAN:

Shelve the report - if they do this we have lost.

Delay further - giving industry a golden opportunity to influence the outcome of the municipal elections in October. NOTE: a built-in requirement for a review of the bylaw in two years has been mentioned by the Mayor. This would provide further incentive for industry to try to change the make-up of Council now. The wrong people on Council can and will obstruct our progress toward a healthier community.

Pass a weakened bylaw - This could happen in various ways.

Examples: (1) A "Notification-Only" bylaw (industry's choice), or a "Buffer-Zone" bylaw would allow the use of landscape pesticides to continue or even increase, and would fail to protect children walking to and from school - or the rest of the community. (2) Outdoor pesticides may be restricted only in downtown city areas. (3) The public education phase could be drawn out, with no promise of any real regulatory change. (4) Essential features, such as pesticide-free zones near schools or drinking water wells, could either be lacking or too slow in coming. (NOTE: These are temporary until the phase out is complete.)

OR - COUNCIL CAN DO THE RIGHT THING, FOLLOWING THE CLEAR ADVICE OF THE MEDICAL COMMUNITY AND THE FEDERAL HOUSE OF COMMONS REPORT ON PESTICIDES, AND PASS A BYLAW THAT WILL EDUCATE THE PUBLIC AND PHASE OUT COSMETIC PESTICIDE USE FOR THE HEALTH OF THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY.

Thanks to all in the community for the wonderful support so far of every one of the five public hearings on the Pesticide Bylaw (two preliminary "committee-of-the-whole" hearings, and three official "Public Hearings").

YOUR PRESENCE FOR THESE FINAL DELIBERATIONS ON THE PESTICIDE BYLAW WILL HELP COUNCIL MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICE. Phoning or e-mailing your Councillor now is more valuable than ever. Contact information is available at 490-4050; to e-mail your Councillor go to: http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Environment/RATE/Email_Councillors.html

* Pros and Cons of different pesticide bylaw choices *

You can VIEW a copy of the bylaw at the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) website on the pesticide bylaw: http://www.region.halifax.ns.ca/harboursol/pesticides/pesticides.html The bylaw being considered is a phase-out of toxic landscape pesticides by the year 2004. It is based on the recommendations of the Majority Report of the Pesticide Bylaw Advisory Committee. The bylaw will permit and encourage the use of safe, non-toxic landscape products. Indoor pesticides, personal, and building structure uses, commercial properties, rodent control, etc., and permits for exceptional infestations are all ALLOWED by the bylaw.

The recent Federal House of Commons report on pesticides is posted at: http://www.parl.gc.ca/InfoComDoc/36/2/ENVI/Studies/Reports/envi01-e.html This is an excellent study, more than a year in preparation by the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development, and tabled with broad cross-party support on May 16, 2000.

KEY RESOURCE - The CHILDREN'S HEALTH PROJECT (May 25, 2000), "Environmental Standard Setting and Children's Health." This is a joint Report just released by The Ontario College of Family Physicians (ONCFP)and the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA). The Table of Contents to this major study (approx, 400 pp.) can be viewed at: http://www.cela.ca/chp/toc.htm We would particularly like to recommend CHAPTER 9, pages 284-366, Case Study #2: "Regulating Pesticides to Protect Children's Health." This is available online (PDF, Acrobat). The BIBLIOGRAPHY for this section, pages 358-364, is also an excellent resource, followed by Table 9.1 "Summary of Information on Selected Common Pesticides" {p. 366).

 

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LAST DAY: PUBLIC HEARINGS ON THE PESTICIDE BYLAW

TO GET A COMMUNITY FRIENDLY PESTICIDE BYLAW - WE NEED YOUR HELP ONCE MORE – Thank you to all who were there before!

WHEN: The last day of hearings will be Thursday, June 29, starting at 1:00 PM. Reports are that the hearing will continue until all are heard and then be declared closed at the end of this session, so consider bringing a summary or copy of your talk to hand in, in case the session must be ended before all can speak. This is NOT required, but it would insure that your ideas become part of the official record. Just submit them "as read" (or "as viewed," if it is visual material).

WHERE: Halifax Regional Council Chambers in City Hall (at one end of the Grand Parade, bordered by Duke, Barrington and Argyle Streets).

WHAT: Speakers are allowed 3-5minutes to speak, but just stating that you support the bylaw would be enough. Although there is no pre-registration for the official hearings, if you were present at earlier hearings but were unable to get a chance to speak, you can add your name to the overflow list by calling the Clerk's office (490-4210), so that your name will be called before those who have not been waiting as long. Even if you do not wish to speak, your presence is needed. PLEASE COME AND SUPPORT THE PESTICIDE BYLAW. This cannot be done without your help. Please, come early [at least a half hour] as it is important to fill the municipal council chambers upstairs with people interested in eliminating cosmetic pesticide use on lawns and gardens.

The pesticide bylaw being considered is a phase-out of toxic landscape pesticides by the year 2004, and is based on the recommendations of the Majority Report of the Pesticide Bylaw Advisory Committee. The bylaw will permit and encourage the use of safe, non-toxic landscape products (if necessary with an exclusion list to the definition of "pesticide"). It would also permit applications for indoor, personal use, building structures and foundations, commercial properties, rodent control, flea collars, etc., and exceptions for unusual infestations.

COUNCILLORS ARE TALKING ABOUT A NOTIFICATION-ONLY BYLAW. THIS MEANS THAT SPRAYING WOULD CONTINUE AT PRESENT OR HIGHER LEVELS, BUT CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS WOULD RECEIVE PRIOR WARNING. This will not help or protect anyone, especially our children.

Some people think we have a bylaw already, or think, that if they have already spoken at the Committee-of-the-Whole, they are not needed now. This is not true. It is vital to the health of our children and community that you come one more time. This is not a minority issue, but rather one that has far reaching impact on healthcare costs and the health of our entire community. This is the only way, for example, that children and the unborn can be protected from the neurotoxic effects of Chlorpyrifos (Dow is removing it from the American market but, so far, not the Canadian one). For more information on the bylaw see the municipal website: http://www.region.halifax.ns.ca/harboursol/pesticides/pesticides.html or the House of Commons Report on pesticides: F

Until now, the chemical industry did not think we could get this far. They have just started to fight and they are well funded and expert at manipulating the media. For the public will to prevail in spite of the efforts of outside lobbyists, we will need as many people as possible to come to the hearings. Take a moment from your summer to help insure we have healthy neighbourhoods in which to live. Numbers are crucial.

PESTICIDE VENDERS FOOL PUBLIC AT HOME SHOW

There seems to be a propagation of misinformation by a handful of pesticide vendors about a Pesticide Bylaw that would regulate landscape pesticide use in the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM). Is the pesticide industry misinformed? All natural pest control products such as tanglefoot, insecticidal soap, citronella, Bt, etc, would be ENCOURAGED by a Pesticide Bylaw, and only toxic chemical pesticides would be restricted by it. But a petition being circulated at the Halifax Home Show, reportedly by Halifax Seed Company, is needlessly misleading the public, claiming safe garden products would be prohibited. The Bylaw recommended by the 7:4 majority of the committe is concerned with the protection of community health, especially that of our children. The Majority Report by the Pesticide Bylaw Advisory Committee asked that the working bylaw in Chelsea, Quebec, be used as a model for the Halifax Regional Municipality. In it, natural, pesticide-free, safe garden products and methods would be encouraged. In addition, the possible need for an exclusion list was unanimously recognized (page 3, #1) in the main report of the Pesticide Bylaw Advisory Committee for HRM. The owner of Halifax Seed was a member of this committee.

URGENT ACTION NEEDED RE- A "COMMUNITY FRIENDLY" PESTICIDE BYLAW

Significant decisions about the pesticide bylaw will likely be made on Tuesday, March 21st, at Halifax Regional Council. We still have a chance to make sure that the kind of bylaw Council proposes will protect the whole community, not just those exquisitely sensitive to pesticides. Continued

ImportantNotice:

Your presence at Halifax City Hall at the Public Hearing Phase for the Pesticide Bylaw will soon be urgently needed. Watch this site for notice of the dates for the Hearings, and get ready to sign up to speak (even briefly) in support of a meaningful bylaw. Your presence could make all the difference!

On December 1, 2000, the Ontario College of Family Physicians and the Canadian Environmental Law Association jointly presented a major study to the House of Commons warning that children are being put at risk from pesticides, and that Canada's regulatory policies have serious flaws. Shouldn't we take our doctors' warnings seriously? What's more important than the health of Canadian kids?

Halifax Regional Council has been stalling in bringing forward a Staff Report on the pesticide bylaw which has been ready for some time. At this rate, although the Halifax Regional municipality (HRM) has had jurisdiction for more than a year to regulate cosmetic pesticide use, children walking to and from school in HRM will still be unprotected from involuntary exposures when spraying resumes in early April. If you think Council should do better than this, write or call your Councillor and insist on action instead of delays. Information on HRM Councillors is available at (902)490-4050, and e-mails at: http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Environment/RATE/Email_Councillors.html