By: Pam Charbonneau, OMAFRA Turfgrass Specialist
It has been an interesting year in the lawn care industry. In may 2000, Charles Caccia, MP Davenport released the Standing Committee on the Environment and Sustainable Development’s report Pesticides: Making the Right Choice for the Protection of Health and the Environment. This report brought into question the "cosmetic use of pesticides" for lawn and gardens in Canada. The full report can be found on the Government of Canada web site at www.parl.gc.ca/InfoComDoc/ 36/2/ENVI/Studies/Reports/envi01-e.html. An executive summary is also available at:
www.parl.gc.ca/infocomdoc/36/2ENVI/Studies/envi01/06-rec-e.html.
In the fall of 2000, as a result of the Caccia Report, Health Minister Allan Rock announced the Action Plan for Urban Use Pesticides, which was developed through a partnership effort between Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) and the provincial and territorial governments. An overview of the action plan is detailed below:
The Action Plan on Urban Use Pesticides
The Action Plan of Urban Use Pesticides was developed to help Canadians reduce their reliance on pesticides in the urban setting. It is composed of three key elements:
- Healthy Lawns Strategy for urban pesticide risk reduction The objective of the Healthy Lawns Strategy is to reduce reliance on pesticide use for lawn care through the application of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) principles, with particular emphasis on pest prevention, use of reduced risk products and application of pesticides only when necessary.
- Registration of new reduced risk products PMRA will continue to facilitate access to reduced risk products through harmonization activities including priority joint review of reduced risk chemical pesticides and biopesticides.
- Product re-evaluation The re-evaluation of the seven most common active ingredients used in lawn care products are targeted for completion in 2001. Changes to registration or withdrawals of lawn care products resulting from these re-evaluations will be implemented in the same timeframe in Canada as those made in the U.S. The target is to have the review of all organophosphate insecticides used in homes, home gardens and public buildings, such as schools completed in 2001.
More detailed information on the action plan can be found at http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/pmra-arla/english/pd/hl-ActionPlan-e.pdf.
Healthy Lawns Working Group
In addition to the action plan, the federal government also promised to work with the provinces and the territories to reduce reliance on pesticides for lawn care through the adoption and application of IPM principles. Part of the action plan was the creation of the Healthy Lawns Working Group. This working group consists of federal and provincial government representatives. Representing Ontario on the Healthy Lawns Working Group are staff members from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) and the Ministry of Environment (MOE). The objective of the working group is stated above under Healthy Lawns Strategy.
The mission of the Healthy Lawns Working Group is:
- To provide advice and direction to federal, provincial and territorial governments on the implementation of the Healthy Lawns strategy
- To deliver and implement the objectives of the Healthy Lawns strategy, and
- To promote information exchange in the area of lawn pest management
There are five proposed activities of this working group:
- Assessing the types of products available to homeowners
- Narrowing the existing domestic category
