Environment Critics say regulations don't go far enough

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Benjamin Shingler
Telegraph-Journal

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FREDERICTON - The New Brunswick government is introducing a ban on the sale and use of more than 200 over-the-counter lawn care pesticide products, but environmental and health groups say the changes don't go far enough.

The new regulations include an outright ban on 2,4-D a widely-used herbicide linked to cancer, for domestic lawn care. Accredited lawn care companies will still be allowed to use some commercial-grade pesticides for "spot treatment" on lawns, and golf courses are not included in the new restrictions.

Environment Minister Roland Haché made the announcement Thursday.

"We are moving ahead with a ban on over-the-counter pesticide products for homeowners and businesses alike," Haché, the Liberal MLA for Nigadoo-Chaleur, told reporters in Fredericton.

Haché said the government will review the province's pesticides control act within two years to consider further reducing their use.

Moncton-East Liberal MLA Chris Collins has been pushing for a ban since his son was diagnosed with cancer. Collins said he was satisfied with the new regulations.

"I think it's effective," he said. "I think it will substantially reduce the amount of tonnage of toxins and distribution where children play."

"I'm encouraged by the fact that the province will be reviewing it again in 2011."

But David Coon, executive director of the New Brunswick Conservation Council, says the province should have banned outright the use of lawn care pesticides.

"In the end, (the Liberal government) blinked towards the finish line and decided to allow some pesticides," Coon said.

New Brunswick is the first province in Atlantic Canada, and the third in the country, to adopt a product ban on lawn care pesticides. Coon said Ontario's pesticide regulations remain the gold standard.

"We're showing leadership, lots of other provinces haven't, but if we could just go all the way for a change, it would have been extremely popular," he said.

An Ipsos-Reid poll released earlier this year found that 79 per cent of respondents support a provincial ban on non-essential use of pesticides, while 75 per cent support a ban on the sale of pesticides.

Gideon Forman, executive director of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, one of the groups that commissioned the poll, said the new regulations won't fully satisfy public demand.

"It's certainly a step in the right in the direction," he said. "However, we do think that people of New Brunswick deserve something stronger."

The Liberal government was able to introduce the new restrictions within current legislation and regulations. With the new restrictions in place by this fall, Haché said retailers and lawn care companies will have sufficient notice to remove these products from their inventories in advance of the 2010 lawn and gardening season.