To the Editor,
Re: Premier bitten by pest problem (B.C. Views, May 19).
The column on cosmetic pesticides written by Tom Fletcher skates around the body of medical and scientific evidence linking these toxins to such illnesses as childhood leukemia and Parkinson’s disease.
In his words, the “right thing to do” is to do nothing about cosmetic pesticides.
I imagine if he were living in the 1960s, he would be arguing that the Vietnam War was the right thing to do, or in the 1970s that concern over the nuclear arms race was merely “political.”
The problem with cosmetic pesticides, like DDT or cigarettes, is that there is no smoking gun.
It is going to take time to convince some people that pouring poison on their lawn could harm their children.
In the case of Mr. Fletcher, I think it will take a lifetime. I pity his children.
Jim McMurtry,
Surrey
