Editor: Re: “City expands pesticide ban,” (The Times, May 17).
I wonder when anyone in the media or the anti-pesticide camp will comment or write an article on this topic, and actually cite the studies that prove weed control products are harmful and cause cancers.
You all claim such studies exist and indeed I have read some of the actual studies which all have doctors backing the findings up. The problem is however they are most often PhDs, and not MDs and certainly not scientists.
Some are even Doctors of Art History and Geography, which would suggest the studies themselves are bogus.
Health Canada about two years ago released the results of its study on the active ingredient in most weed killers (2,4-D) and found it to pose no risk to humans when used properly. Now don’t get me wrong here. There are pesticides that are very harmful, and none of those are used in lawns.
I am sadly aware that no amount of reason or real science has any chance of being heard when a 12-year-old child is saying she is scared of what could be used in lawns. I am also very curious who put this child up to this.
But all is of no matter because this anti-pesticide movement will win out regardless. I just wish someone in the media would write an article that is balanced somewhat.
Such an article might mention weed control on a sports field is not cosmetic, but is in fact for safety or perhaps how allergy sufferers are affected by weeds left to grow unchecked. A field full of clover will attract bees around playing children, who may indeed be allergic to their stings.
Also such an article could mention how a healthy, weed-free, growing lawn filters our air and cools our environment and produces the oxygen we all breathe. One average-sized lawn produces the same amount of oxygen as the old growth trees that we cut down to build our houses.
It is not just about a lawn looking good.
Rick MacDonald, owner,
Nutri-Lawn
Editor’s note — The letter writer’s company operates in Abbotsford, Mission, Langley and Chilliwack.
