Pesticide Ban is a Major Victory

Science

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As you may know, yesterday the Ministry of Environment released the actual list of pesticides that will be banned for use and sale in the province. It includes more than 80 pesticide ingredients and over 250 toxic products!

Included in the ban are such common weed-killers as 2,4-D and Glyphosate (Round-up). The industry tried its best to have several chemicals removed from the banned list and called for an "infestation" clause that would allow for continued spraying. Working with other groups, we lobbied the MOE and other ministries to ensure the banned list remained robust and no "infestation" clause was allowed.

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05/03/2009 08:14 PM

How big a victory is this? Quebec's ban -- the gold standard till now -- prohibits 20 pesticide ingredients. Ontario bans four times as many! And as for the U.S. -- they cant even agree to ban 2,4-D. So this legislation is truly the best on the continent.

This is a major public health victory which will be felt right across North America.

Gideon Forman,
Executive Director,
Canadian Association of Physicians
for the Environment (CAPE)

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