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EARTH ACTION
81 Prince Street Charlottetown PEI C1A 4R3 Tel: 902-621-0719 Email:
slabchuk@isn.net
NEWS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 21, 1999
Charlottetown, PEI -- "Claims by Eric Hammill, Minister of Agriculture and
Forestry, that pesticide use on PEI is decreasing because of the adoption
of integrated pest management techniques are unfortunately unfounded", says
Dr Irene Novaczek, spokesperson for the environmental group Earth Action.
"Given the degree of public concern over pesticide use, spray drift and
consequent illness, the attempt by the minister to mislead the public
through spurious use of statistics is deplorable."
Looking at records of pesticide sales for PEI for the years 1983 and
1993-97 reveal an overall trend of increase, with 1996, a particularly bad
blight year, being a year of unusually strong sales. Whereas use of
herbicides has remained virtually the same since 1993, the introduction of
extremely toxic products such as Admire, which are applied at relatively
lower doses, has contributed to a slight decline in the weight of
insecticides sold. However the pattern of use for fungicides, which
account for 80% of pesticide sales, is one of overall increase. The 3 most
heavily used fungicides sold on PEI are mancozeb, chlorothalonil and metiram.
"According to published scientific documents" notes Sharon Labchuk, Earth
Action's pesticide researcher, "all of these are hormone mimicking
compounds like those recently linked to declines in wild salmon stocks in
New Brunswick; two are known cancer-causing agents."
It was the bad blight conditions of 1996 which led to extra-heavy
applications of fungicide in that year. In 1997 fungicide sales did indeed
drop relative to this unusually bad year, but compared to previous years,
fungicide sales have gone up. For instance, there was a 32% rise compared
to 1995, and a 75% increase compared to 1993. Sales of fungicides will no
doubt continue to rise and fall from one year to the next according to the
weather.
"Whenever one considers data such as this," says Dr Novaczek "it is
important to look at the long term trends, as variations in weather from
year to year can affect blight conditions and make trends difficult to see.
Only repeated declines in application rates over a number of years can be
interpreted as a true improvement that might be related to improved farming
practices."
The big picture shows that over 15 years (1982-1997) our assault on the
Island's environment has intensified dramatically, even though more and
more scientific studies link pesticide use to death and disease in human,
salmon, bird and other wildlife populations. Total pesticide sales on PEI
have jumped 571% over 15 years, whereas in Europe, for example, countries
that have embarked on true pesticide reduction programs have achieved 50%
reductions.
It has been painfully apparent from submissions to the Pesticides Advisory
Committee over the years, that many Islanders have been involuntary
victims of pesticide spray drift and poisoning, and many more are concerned
about the long-term effects of pesticides in our food. Complaints phoned in
to the so-called "pesticide police", most of which pertain to being sprayed
with pesticides while in ones' own home or garden, have remained steady at
just over 100 per year. However, it is likely that those who call in once
do not bother to repeat the effort. On average, fewer than half of the
complaints are investigated and half of these result in warnings being
issued to the pesticide users. The enforcement officers have seen fit to
issue only 5 tickets over the three years they have been in operation.
This is the record being boasted about by the minister.
"In fact," concludes Ms Labchuk "it is safe to say that anyone who has
been made ill and then either been ignored or watched the pesticide user
walk off with just a warning surely considers this record to be shameful
rather than laudatory."
- 30 -
Contact:
Sharon Labchuk 621-0719 / 368-7337
or
Irene Novazek 964-2781 / 368-7337
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