Lawmaker Advocates Total Ban on Non-Essential Pesticide Use in Canada

OTTAWA - A New Democrat MP is advocating a total ban on non-essential use of pesticides in Canada.

Pat Martin of Winnipeg is introducing a private-member's bill in the House of Commons that would impose a national moratorium on cosmetic use of pesticides.

Martin says recent studies indicate some lawn-garden chemicals are more threatening to people - especially children and pregnant women - than animal-based studies suggest.

About 90 Canadian municipalities have already banned the non-essential use of pesticides.

Nevertheless, Martin says more than 50 million kilograms of pesticides are still used in Canada each year, 35 to 50 per cent of them on lawns, parks and golf courses, where he claims users tend to "pile on" pesticides to a much greater degree than farmers do in agricultural applications.

Martin says his "long-overdue" bill would put the onus on manufacturers rather than governments to prove their products are safe.

Source: The Canadian Press