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EARTH ACTION 81 Prince Street Charlottetown PEI C1A 4R3 Tel: 902-621-0719 Email: slabchuk@isn.net MEDIA RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PROVINCE FAILS TO PROTECT PEOPLE AND WILDLIFE FROM POISONOUS PESTICIDES August 8, 2000 Charlottetown - The Prince Edward Island government has failed miserably to protect wildlife and humans from the poisonous effects of intense industrial agriculture pesticide spraying, says Earth Action, a PEI activist organization. And to make matters worse, says spokesperson Sharon Labchuk, when polluters are caught and taken before the courts, ineffectual legislation allows them to walk away from charges. "This latest court case, where on August 8th, the charges were stayed against Hayden Produce for annihilating all life in the Valleyfield River last summer, is just one more example of this province's useless environmental protection laws," says Labchuk. "The priority in this province is not protecting citizens or wildlife from the harmful effects of pesticides, but allowing the potato industry to do whatever it wants, at whatever cost." Labchuk points to another case earlier this year where poorly written forest buffer zone legislation failed to stand up in court after a forest contractor was charged. She says the Province has the power to ban any of the pesticides used on PEI but refuses to do so. " Earth Action lobbied the Province for three years for a ban on the exceptionally toxic insecticide carbofuran ," says Labchuk. "It's a notorious bird-killer and toxic to just about every other life form too. Last year, the PEI Department of Environment was summoned to appear before a House of Commons committee investigating pesticide use. The Committee asked then-Deputy Minister Bill Drost why, when the Province was in possession of virtually all scientific data on carbofuran and when Environment Canada recommends it be banned on potatoes, did the province not ban its use. Drost offered the lame excuse that the Province is afraid to ban any pesticide for fear of legal retaliation from the chemical industry." Labchuk says this is nonsense and that in the United States pesticides are routinely banned and restricted by individual states. Just another example of potato industry protectionism at the expense of human health and the environment she says. "Only two pieces of legislation directly address human and wildlife protection from pesticides and both are a sham," says Labchuk. "Growers are not allowed to spray in winds exceeding 25 kmph. This is far too high and might as well be 100 kmph for all the protection it offers. And some potato pesticides are not legal for use when wind speeds are much lower than 25 kmph. The grower knows this because its written on the pesticide label but how is the person living next door to a field supposed to know when a pesticide is being used illegally?" She says 102 pesticide complaints were made to the Province's Pesticide Regulatory Program in 1998 and of the 55 complaints actually investigated only 1 ticket was issued. "The Pesticide Police program was put in place in response to public outrage over spray drift," says Labchuk. "But it has almost no authority to protect humans or wildlife. It's simply a public relations ploy - an expensive one at that." Labchuk is also critical of buffer zone legislation. She says it is futile to embark on the path of pesticide damage control because once pesticides are released into the environment they travel the globe, even ending up in the breast milk of women in the Arctic. "Environment Canada found that under favourable conditions, enough of the insecticide endosulfan, commonly used on PEI potatoes, was deposited 200 metres away from an aerial application site to kill captive fish within 24 hours," she says. " California requires a 300 foot buffer zone for this same insecticide." Many Islanders who have been driven from their homes and even the province because of pesticide spraying, says Labchuk, have contacted Earth Action. "These people have suffered ill health and financial loss because there is no legal protection on PEI for the most basic of human rights - the right to not be involuntarily contaminated by toxic chemicals. They won't speak publicly because they fear retaliation. In some cases, people are trying to sell their homes because family members are sick from pesticides. If they speak out no one will purchase their homes and there will be no compensation for them. Other people have left the Province out of desperation and found a dramatic improvement in health when they got away from the pesticide spray drift." Labchuk says the solution in the short term is strict legislation to protect human health and the environment. But only with the complete elimination of pesticides as quickly as possible and a commitment to small-scale organic agriculture, will PEI once again become a healthy safe place for humans and wildlife to live. - 30 - Contact: Sharon Labchuk 621-0719 ***************** Sharon Labchuk Earth Action 81 Prince Street Charlottetown, PEI C1A 4R3 phone/fax 902-621-0719 slabchuk@isn.net -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- The preceding message was posted on the Sustainable Maritimes mailing list (sust-mar). http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/lists/sust-mar -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- Sponsors: Chebucto Community Net http://www.chebucto.ns.ca Sierra Club - Chebucto Group http://www.sierraclub.ca Volunteer moderator: Paul Falvo mailto:sust-mar-owner@chebucto.ns.ca To submit a message to sust-mar, please send it to: mailto:sust-mar@chebucto.ns.ca PLEASE SEND MESSAGES TO SUST-MAR IN PLAIN TEXT ONLY MESSAGES CONTAINING HTML (MIME) CANNOT BE POSTED
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