In recent years the practice of applying lawn herbicides has grown disturbingly common as cottage and homeowners as well as golf course managers strive to attain the illusive perfect turf. However the increasing use of ever-stronger chemical cocktails is endangering our families, pets and other desirable life forms, lakes and rivers, as well as our food supply.
The chemical pesticide industry, in terminal denial, continues to ignore this critical situation and has made every effort to discredit opponents and keep this information from the public.

Herbicide and pesticide use is not a natural or safe way to realize a beautiful lawn, in spite of what lawn care companies would like us to believe. Many of the chemicals used are broad-spectrum biocides, which by their very nature can harm beneficial as well as targeted pest species.

The chemical establishment makes false claims stating that the mixtures are heavily diluted, failing to mention that the toxins used are still extremely dangerous even in small amounts.

In addition, these companies do not disclose all of what is in their mixtures claiming “trade secrets”. Many components are listed as “inert” which allows them to be hidden from the public and not mentioned on product labels. These agents are in many cases more than just fillers or solvents. Inert does not mean inactive: some, such as benzene and xylene, are more toxic than the listed chemicals. These mixtures can include components of wartime defoliants, which in some instances remain active for many years, concentrate in our bodies and can be released at potentially toxic levels in mothers’ breast milk.

Pesticides/herbicides often drift through the air and settle during application. They can easily reach our homes and, tracked in on shoes, can linger in carpets and household dust for a year or more.

These chemicals can harm us when they are absorbed by the skin. They may then attack the central nervous system and vital organs. Symptoms of lawn chemical poisoning are often misdiagnosed by physicians as allergies or flu. Other associated problems include headache, nausea, fever, breathing difficulties, high blood pressure and temporary paralysis. Both young and old can be affected, but it is our children who are most vulnerable to this irresponsible use of chemicals.

• The U.S. National Academy of Sciences reports that at least one out of seven people is significantly harmed by exposure to herbicides and pesticides each year.
• According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 95% of the pesticides used on residential lawns are possible or probable carcinogens.
• Triazine herbicides such as Aztrazine 2,4-D and organophosphate insecticides, which have uses in lawn chemicals, have a definite link to non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma according to studies by the National Cancer Society.
• A University of Iowa study of golf course superintendents found abnormally high rates of death due to cancer of the brain, large intestine and prostate.

This list is but a micro-fraction of the conclusive scientific research warning us of the potential dangers of continued lawn chemical abuse.

Even the claim that pesticides/herbicides promote healthy and beautiful lawns is both extremely misleading and patently absurd. These chemicals do harm by adding salt to the soil, eliminating beneficial nitrogen-fixing microorganisms that provide essential grass nutrients. Using pesticides to create a cosmetic quick fix for lawns exacerbates other environmental problems. Synthetic fertilizers kill earthworms and other organisms that aerate soil, causing compaction that can actually kill grass plant roots. Inorganic nitrogen-based fertilizers also promote the sprouting of weeds thus creating an artificial dependency on lawn chemicals.

Over time pesticides can also help the undesirable pests they target by killing off their beneficial natural predators such as songbirds and toads. This action destroys the natural species balance and contributes to a false, unstable and vulnerable environmental condition: a vicious cycle emerges in which the evolution of chemical resistant pests increases our reliance on ever-stronger concentrations of poisons to combat these pests.

As Dr. Michael Surgan, Chief Environmental Scientist at the New York School of Agriculture, puts it: “If you buy the notion that we have to accept a certain amount of risk from pests to safeguard the food supply, that’s one thing. But with lawns people are applying carcinogens simply for the sake of aesthetics. That’s got to change!”

According to recent reports in the Globe and Mail, at the present time there are 56 municipalities in Canada considering bans on lawn pesticide use. It’s time that the Township of Tiny and the towns of Penetanguishene and Midland took some initiative and addressed this issue as well.