May 12 has been designated as Canada Health Day 2006, and on May 27, CARE Stratford will offer its annual Environmental Symposium (featuring Maude Barlow, Stratford Northwestern Secondary School). It's a good time, therefore, to think about the effects of chemical pesticides on human health and on the health of our environment, and to act accordingly! The websites listed below will give you more information about pesticides, as well as possible alternatives.
A project of Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency, the purpose of this website is to reduce Canadians' reliance on pesticide use by providing strategies to reduce/prevent both insect and weed pests in lawns and turfgrass. Information is offered for both home gardeners and lawn care professionals.
Click on Resources and Areas of Concern for information about pesticides, their use, associated human health risks, and their impact on the environment. Supported by Environment Canada, this is also a source of information about current legislation and policies concerning pesticides at the federal, provincial and municipal levels of government.
You can find some handy fact sheets about various pesticides and their effects on human health, water quality and the environment, on the Sierra Club of Canada's website. It also offers practical ideas for non-toxic lawn care and gardening.
From Cornell University, 21 handy fact sheets are available to advise you about how to adapt ecogardening practices with your lawn, trees, shrubs, flowers, vegetables and fruits and houseplants.
This website offers a large collection of fact sheets with practical information on dealing with various pests (eg. slugs, ants, dandelions, bindweed) without pesticides. It also addresses organic lawn care and restoration, and provides fact sheets discussing the health impacts of many of the commonly-used pesticides.
Web Tip
Looking to read a newspaper online? Looking for back issues? Try some of the specialized databases from the Library website - http://www.stratford.library.on.ca/databases.htm#newspapers You can read the K-W Record, Listowel Banner, Toronto Star, and even the Beacon Herald. Some articles date back to 1985. FREE with your library card.
Find out about the many reasons to avoid pesticides, and how they harm the environment, humans and pets. Alternative methods of controlling pests in the lawn, in the garden and in the home are explored on this website. SPEC is the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation, from British Columbia.
The Go for Green program encourages natural gardening which avoids the use of chemical pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers. Refer to the article series and the fact sheets for some useful information about ecological gardening without chemicals, organic alternatives, etc.
Read about the dangers of commonly-used lawn pesticides; then click on "Find Resources on Safer Lawn Practices" for a wealth of online information about maintaining a pesticide-free lawn, restoring a lawn without herbicides, knowing about organic claims, the basics of organic gardening, and more.
The OCFP offers an informative and comprehensive Pesticides Literature Review which explores the links between pesticides and various (human) health diseases and conditions, including: pancreatic, ovarian, kidney, lung and other cancers; skin conditions such as dermatitis, neurological and mental health impacts, fertility problems, and fetal death.
Birds are often the innocent victims in our use of pesticides, and in recent years, many of our native bird species have been showing steady declines in number. Learn about pesticides and why they are dangerous for birds and other wildlife, on this website from Canada's Hinterland Who's Who.
