New pesticide legislation in B.C. depends on your informed input
Submitted by admin on December 14, 2011 - 12:23
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Click HERE to comment until December 16
The BC government wants to know if we, the public, support new laws about the cosmetic use of pesticides. We do!
Doctors have presented the case for caution and common sense around pesticides.
Their studies show clear links between pesticides and cancer, especially in children.
Chemical companies and toxicology scientists dismiss out of hand many epidemiological studies done by doctors. But these studies are not truly dismissible. They link pesticide exposure to severe health risks, including death and disease.
We need provincial legislation
Six provinces have already enacted provincial legislation to ban the cosmetic use of pesticides.
It’s our turn in British Columbia.
BC set up a Special Committee to scrutinize the issue before a new law is passed.
The committee is made of up MLAs from across the province, and chaired by Kootenay East MLA Bill Bennett. It has heard presentations from several organizations.
You can review the same presentations here.
The committee might recommend strong new laws—such as a ban—weak new laws, or no new laws at all.
Weak laws could be used to overrule municipal bylaws that are already in place.
This would be a toxic step backwards.
No matter how hard you worked in your town for a pesticide bylaw, your job is not finished.
Even if you HAVE a bylaw in place, weak provincial legislation could override it.
We MUST finalize this!
This last and most important step in our fight against the overuse of chemical pesticides is submit comments to the BC government via written submissions, video or the online questionnaire.
Provincial legislation is absolutely necessary. Only provincial legislation can ban the sale of these products. Municipal bylaws cannot enact a ban.
Remember to fill in the form before December 16, 2011.
Many thanks,
The Wildsight Team
