Pesticides

What is a pesticide?

A pesticide is any chemical substance used to kill bugs, weeds or plant diseases. This includes insecticides (kill insects), herbicides (kill plants), fungicides (kill moulds, mushrooms and yeast) and rodenticides (kill rodents). When you go to your garden centre, read the labels on the products you buy. If using a lawn care service ask what they're applying to your lawn. Some items like fertilizers and lawn-care products may contain pesticides. Ask questions and find out what alternatives to pesticides are available.

The use of pesticides is an important issue for our community.

Pesticides can pose risks to human health and the environment. While there is still scientific uncertainty about the health risks of using pesticides in your garden, growing evidence supports taking a 'precautionary approach.' Being cautious makes a lot of sense, because there are many alternatives to using pesticides for cosmetic purposes on our lawns and gardens.

Children may be especially at risk because they are more exposed to pesticides and more sensitive to the effects of the chemicals. Because children are smaller, they get a proportionately higher dose than adults. Children play and roll around on the grass, and their developing bodies are less able to rid themselves of toxic chemicals.

Health groups such as the Canadian Cancer Society and the Canadian Public Health Association have invoked the Precautionary Principle. This means that when there is uncertainty about the safety of a product, it's better to err on the side of caution. The goal is to prevent harm before it occurs.

Within the environment, although some pesticides are species-specific, there are others that do not differentiate between pests and beneficial organisms. Some lawn and garden pesticides may persist in the environment, which may result in unintended exposure to other species. Once applied to a lawn or garden a pesticide may migrate into the air, soil, and water, both groundwater and surface water. Studies in Ontario have detected some of our lawn and garden pesticides in both surface water and wells. There are also indications that aquatic life, bees, birds and soil organisms including earthworms are harmed.

We have to ask ourselves: Do we really need to spray these chemicals on our lawns just to destroy some plants and insects that we think are pests? We need to change our ideas about what makes a beautiful lawn. To prevent potential harm, the City of Ottawa encourages residents to explore alternatives to chemical pesticides.