Winnipeg pesticide bylaw to require better signage
City backs away from banning lawn chemicals
Last Updated: Friday, May 2, 2008 | 12:14 PM ET
CBC News
The city of Winnipeg has unveiled its new bylaw on pesticide use — but it does not ban or limit the use or sale of chemical pesticides, as other jurisdictions have done.
The new bylaw requires companies that apply chemicals in residential areas to put up larger warning signs.
'There is kind of a chemical culture in Winnipeg. People just don't want to let go … of their chemicals.'— Coun. Jenny Gerbasi
"In the past, you could have these little signs that you needed a magnifying glass to see," said Coun. Jenny Gerbasi, who helped draft the new bylaw.
"Now there's going to be a sort of standard signage that's readable and contains more information. You can be aware that there are chemicals beside you and not have your kids or your dog run across."
Homeowners who use pesticides will not have to post signage.
The bylaw does not implement a recommendation by a city committee to allow buffer zones around commercial pesticide applications.
City residents can already register for a 100-metre buffer zone around their properties for certain city-applied pesticides, but it does not affect commercial or residential applications.
Gerbasi described the new bylaw as gentle, but said it was a good first step toward pesticide regulation.
"Most places start with something that's fairly mild like this. But at least it's also going to get people talking about it and thinking about it," she said.
The city also plans to launch a public-education campaign on pesticide use.
"There is kind of a chemical culture in Winnipeg. People just don't want to let go — and politicians as well, on city council don't really want to let go — of their chemicals," Gerbasi said.
Gerbasi said the most effective way to control pesticides would be to ban their sale, but such a move would be more effective on a provincial level.
More than 100 communities across Canada, including Brandon, Halifax, Ottawa and Toronto, have restricted the non-essential use of toxic lawn and garden chemicals.
The province of Quebec adopted tough standards in 2006, and the Ontario government introduced legislation last month that would ban the use and sale of pesticides for cosmetic purposes.
Winnipeg's bylaw will be reviewed by the city's protection and community services committee on Monday, and by full city council later this month.
If the bylaw is passed, the use of signs would begin this summer on a voluntary basis. Starting Jan. 1, companies that do not post signs could face penalties.
