McGuinty Delivers on Campaign Promise to Ban Pesticides

By Jackie Fraser, Executive Director, AGCare and Chris Attema, (Ontario Pork, Ontario Sheep, Ontario Cattlemen's Association)

On April 22, the McGuinty government announced its ban on pesticides for “cosmetic” use, complete with Earth Day rhetoric and photo ops of kids running around with antipesticide t-shirts. Bill 64, “An Act to amend the Pesticide Act to prohibit the use and sale of pesticides that may be used for cosmetic purposes”, passed first reading on the same day.

Bill 64 proposes to ban the use and sale of certain prescribed pesticides in Ontario. The list includes 78 active ingredients, which would ban approximately 300 different products. Some examples of banned active ingredients include 2,4-D, atrazine, dicamba, imidacloprid, malathion, MCPA, mecoprop, permithrin, pyrethrin, and rotenone. The full lists are available at www.ene.gov.on.ca/en/land/pesticides/proposedLegislation.php.

Agriculture is exempt for uses related to agriculture. However, farmers will not be able to use banned products on their “front and back yards … including lawns, ornamental plantings, vegetable gardens, patios, driveways, [and] trees”.

Yes, if you have been certified through the Grower Pesticide Safety Course you may spray your fields, but you cannot be trusted to responsibly spray your lawn to keep those weeds from spreading onto your fields. If you are a vegetable grower, you may spray the vegetables in your fields, but not the ones in your garden for personal use. At the time of writing this piece, it is not clear as to whether you can legally control weeds, using banned products, in fencerows or other “grey” areas of your farm.

The backgrounder on the Ministry of Environment (MOE) website helpfully provides alternatives for farmers. “Fertilize and water properly to keep lawns healthy and pull weeds by hand or use special tools designed for the job.”

The immediate impact on agriculture is of course the ban on using prescribed products on your own lawns and gardens. AGCare will strive to work with the government on this issue. Controlling weeds, insects, and other pests in agricultural areas is not a ”cosmetic” issue. For those of us living outside of Toronto with lawns slightly larger than a postage stamp, MOE’s helpful tips on watering and hand weeding are ridiculous.

More concerning is the longer term impact this ban will have. We need to work very hard now to avoid being next on the list. With this win under their belt, how long will it be before interest groups target agriculture and lobby to remove its exemption?

We also need to work hard to mitigate against the damage this ban has on the public perception of pesticides. We’ve already seen the questions in the media – why are farmers exempt and why are these banned products allowed in food production?

Last, but not least, when will we feel the widening of the “technology gap” between farmers in Canada and the U.S.? As the companies we rely on for new crop protection products lose confidence in our regulatory system, they will invest less time and money to bring new registrations forward here.

AGCare certainly has its work cut out for it for the foreseeable future.

This will be my last column for about a year as I head off on maternity leave to hand weed and water my lawn. Please welcome Lilian Schaer, AGCare’s Interim Executive Director, who will be providing updates from AGCare in my absence.