use of pesticides in urban environments
...the environment. According to Councillor Doug Holyday “people who would normally hire a lawn care company will likely illegally apply their own pesticides and herbicides” and "People with no experience at all will be applying pesticides because they can still buy them,” (LM week). Industry experts say that it would have been much safer if lawn improvement and care companies were allowed to use the pesticides. The result of this bylaw is that the city which is already facing poor economy has taken another step against businesses that would have contributed towards taxes. The urban environment requires the use of pesticides to protect human properties and activities threatened by insects, weed and microbial pests. Weeds are the primary pests in the urban environment; they tend to grow well in the disturbed ecosystems characteristic of urban areas. Dandelions and crabgrasses are mostly found in turf grass and usually targets of chemical control. They have an amazing ability to compete with cultured grasses for sunlight and space. Other kinds of weeds such as poison ivy, ragweed and thistles need to be controlled because of health and safety considerations. Microbial and fungal pests that cause ornamental, turf, vegetable and house plants damage need to be controlled as well as they can cause financial damage. To battle these pests affectively the use of pesticides in necessary. Alternatives like pulling out weeds by hand and other methods are highly ineffective in controlling the persistence of these pests to return after short periods of time (Racke 1992). According to the American Chemical Society, the environmental groups have turned into anti-pesticide groups and focus on what they see as the weakest, most visible pesticide users: the urban consumer (Delaney 1993). The efforts of the environmental groups seeking ban on pesticides started on the federal level when the committee of the House of Commons was attempting to ban lawn chemicals, a move which was stopped by the Health Minister, Anne McLellan because of the lack of authority the committee had on the subject. Since then the courts have ruled that such a law can only be enacted by municipal governments and lobbying efforts on part of the environmental groups have been in full affect. Toronto’s pesticide discussions were ruled by Toronto Environmental Coalition, a lawn care industry organization and Toronto Environmental Alliance (an environmental activist organization) lobbying councillors to vote in their respective favours (CBC: “The pesticide debate” 2004). According to Lorraine Van Haastrecht, co-owner of Dr. Green, "It just came down to a completely political issue," as Mayor Miller high jacked the issue by strong arming councillors who hadn’t made their decisions. "If you just move forward and let democracy work, it was a normal soluti...