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 www.caps.20m.comCanadians Against Pesticides |
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CAPS BULLETIN November 28, 2000 The group known as "Campaign For Pesticide Reduction" has presented a procalamation for a "Pesticide=Free Week" April 21 - 28, 2001. The national environmental organization is hoping that communities across Canada will honour the week in which Earth Day falls, by suspending all government initiated/funded pesticide spray programs. These programs target parks, sports fields, municipal grounds and various other greenspaces for primarily cosmetic-use pesticides like herbicides, insecticides and fungicides. The procalamation would also urge private citizens to observe the week-long ban. A growing group of physicians, scientists and environmentalists worldwide have been emphatic in their warnings to governments and the public. Their warnings suggest that the vast majority of these chemicals are linked to a host of childhood and adult cancers as well as numerous other diseases and developmental problems. The Ontario College of Family Physicians, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, members of the Canada Health Advisory Council, Dr. David Suzuki and countless environmental groups are among the Canadians who support this position. Forty-eight communities across Canada have already established bylaws banning the use of cosmetic pesticides on public and private greenspaces. Halifax most recently joined this group. The city of Calgary is currently debating the issue. The following is the procalamation presented by CPR Proclamation Pesticide-Free Week (April 21th-28rd,2001) WHEREAS Pesticides, which include insecticides, fungicides and herbicides, are inherently toxic products which target fundamental biological processes essential to living things; and WHEREAS The most common herbicides used for domestic purposes in Canada have not been proven safe, and when pesticides are registered for public use, interactions between chemicals in the "inert" or "active" ingredients, which can vastly magnify toxicity, are never studied or documented; and WHEREAS The chemicals used as "inert ingredients" include some of the most dangerous substances known; and WHEREAS Children, because of the immaturity of their Detoxification and immune systems are more vulnerable and should be kept safe from toxic pesticide exposures while walking to school, learning in class, and playing at home; and WHEREAS Although many pesticides, such as 2,4-D, have been scheduled for reassessment because they damage health and they damage the environment, they are still being released into Canadian communities at rates several times those used in agriculture; and WHEREAS 2,4-D, a hormone-mimicking pesticide, is present in one-third of all Canadian garden products, yet homeowner use of pesticide products is largely unregulated, and residues from these pesticide products, unlicensed for indoor use, enter homes from adjacent properties and can still be measured in home dust one year later; and WHEREAS People have a fundamental right to be safe in their own homes, yet in urban areas involuntary pesticide exposures are impossible to avoid, and many individuals are exceedingly sensitive even to minute amounts of pesticides; and WHEREAS The City of _____________ is joining hands with 48 other communities across Canada working towards the removal of cosmetic chemical pesticides from our environment as part of the 2001 National Campaign for Pesticide Reduction. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT, I, _____________________, Mayor of the Town of __________________, proclaim the week of April 21 - 28, 2001 as Pesticide-Free Week, in the Municipality of ___________________. |
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