PRK endorses a pesticide reduction council

October 25th, 2003

Over the last two weeks, members of Pesticide Reduction Kingston (PRK) have polled as many municipal candidates as possible on the question of supporting the use of a bylaw, in concert with an educational campaign, to effectively eliminate the non-essential cosmetic use of pesticides within the city of Kingston. Most of the candidates did reply with a genuine opinion on this issue, and as a result, PRK is now in a position to make a recommendation to Kingstonians with regards to what kind of council would best serve the cause of pesticide reduction. We applaud the candidates for taking the time to inform themselves with regards to this issue on such short notice.

Over the last two years, PRK has presented a petition - which has grown in size by 20% in the last 6 months - urging councilors to adopt a bylaw to restrict the use of pesticides to cases where it is absolutely necessary. Many of the councilors have been very supportive of these efforts while others have been more reticent to act on this important issue. Consequently, we believe that with only a few changes to council, this issue can be resolved in an environmentally and economically sound fashion.

Therefore, it is our hope that the upcoming municipal election result in a council headed by Dave Meers as Mayor, and made up of Vicki Schmolka representing in the Trillium District, Richard Landon representing Lakeside District, Carol Allison-Burra representing the Williamsville District, Sara Meers elected to the Cataraqui District, and Terry Cloutier elected in the Collins Bay- Bayridge District.

Our informal door-to-door polling has indicated that roughly 75% of Kingstonians desire restrictions on pesticide use, even among those who use them in the outlying suburbs. It is our hope that the new councilors will feel comfortable supporting a restrictive bylaw that would minimize our exposure to lawn pesticides. Such restrictions are in the interest of protecting our children from adverse developmental effects as well as the well-known risk of Non-Hodgkins' Lymphoma, a deadly cancer of the lymph nodes. We wish all the candidates well, and look forward to working with the next council to implement a pesticide policy that will safeguard the health of our local environment and our families.