Pesticides aren’t dangerous; homeowners are
KAMLOOPS – Pesticides are not inherently dangerous. That and the many other misconceptions about pesticides stem from ignorance according to a local landscaper who deals with the chemicals regularly.
“A lot of people… aren’t educated enough, and they get scared. They think that applying all pesticides are bad because somebody told them,” Corey Munegatto says.
Munegatto is a project manager for Pronto Enterprises, a landscaping and maintenance company that also sprays and fertilizes lawns. He says Health Canada administers endless studies on the products used to ensure that they are safe. Pesticide formulations, for both plants and insects, are constantly upgraded to work more efficiently, and there is better understanding about what products can do every day.
“Everything we use has to be registered by Health Canada,” he says. “(Health Canada) has a team of scientists where that’s all they do."
He believes what is bad, even dangerous, is pesticides in the hands of the uneducated.
If approved Coun. Tina Lange’s motion could see the licensed applicator provision taken out of the current ban. Munegatto feels he and his colleagues should be trusted as qualified professionals, something the average homeowner is not.
“Not to say that nobody reads the labels, but there are homeowners that don’t,” he says, noting this is when pesticides become dangerous.
Munegatto says there is always a need to upgrade knowledge because of new advances in the field and he attends at least one trades conference a year to keep up with trends.
“We are a pretty educated group of professionals. We all have to be certified to do these things, we’ve gone through extensive training,” he says.
Homeowners don’t necessarily know how to spray, how much to spray and many don’t often wear protective clothing. Pronto employees wear full length pants, long sleeves, tall rubber boots and gloves and, depending on the chemical used, respirators.
“If you’re going out in your yard in sandals, you’re walking through it, you’re spraying your feet, you’re getting exposed,” Munegatto says.
As Pronto is a diverse company, a city-wide pesticide ban would not destroy their business but would most likely be the end of its lawn care division. Munegatto refutes any idea that a ban would help them grow services because he doesn't believe anyone will hire a company to pull weeds. He notes hand-pulling isn’t that simple as some weeds have complicated roots systems that only spot treating with pesticides can solve and the cost of hand-pulling could easily be more costly because of the extra time it would take as well.
Since the city can’t control the sale of product in stores, Munegatto believes homeowners will take weed care into their own hands. Because a city wide ban would not prevent businesses from selling it on their shelves Munegatto believes homeowners will just take a simpler route.
“They’ll probably go to Home Depot, buy their jug of Killex for $30 and have a full year of applications.”
To contact a reporter for this story, email Dana Reynolds at dreynolds@infonews.ca or call 250-819-6089. To contact an editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
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5 responses
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TO FOTHERGILL—Really?THIS is the absolute best and most innovative response you’ve got?Experts who defend products must be remunerated by professional users?Really?Who pays you to be an anti-pesticide SHILL?A typical example of a pesticide-hating SHILL, also called an enviro-stooge, is a fanatic who publicly conspires against pest control products on behalf of an anti-pesticide organization without disclosing that they have a close relationship with this organization.Are YOU a member, or perhaps even an operator, of an anti-pesticide & enviro-terrorist organization?YOUR own facebook page PREACHES TERRORISM and GOVERNMENT BY INTIMIDATION.Is this organization providing YOU with profit in order to enrage and alarm, and perhaps even terrorize, the public with lies and false allegations about these products?Would you publicly publish all of your income tax statements for the last ten years?This would allow us to ascertain who pays YOU profit for your statements.In view of the overwhelming scientific evidence that pest control products are SCIENTIFICALLY-SAFE, it must be concluded that YOU are deliberately ignoring real science for profit or for other nefarious reasons.YOU conveniently ignore the fact that pest control products WILL NOT CAUSE HARM TO CHILDREN, ADULTS, ANIMALS, OR THE ENVIRONMENT.
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EVERYONE IS MISSING THE POINT!?PESTICIDES ARE ONLY DANGEROUS WHEN THE CONCENTRATED FORM IS STORED IN THE HOME—Pest control products used in the Urban Landscape are SO SAFE that they have even been registered for Do-It-Yourself Lawn Care.EPA, Health Canada, and other science-based regulatory agencies have clearly demonstrated that many of these products are LESS TOXIC THAN Aspirin, baking soda, caffeine, cannabis, nicotine, table salt, and Tylenol.For example, Roundup is NO MORE TOXIC THAN ethanol ( an edible beverage constituent in beer, wine, and other intoxicating beverages ), mouthwash ( Listerine ), and Vitamin C.However, it must be recognized that when residents use Qualified & Licensed Professional Applicators, THE RISK OF POISONING CHILDREN IS FURTHER REDUCED since the CONCENTRATED form of pest control products is NOT STORED IN THE HOME.For decades, the Professional Lawn Care Industry has advocated that using its services is SAFER FOR CHILDREN than Do-It-Yourself Lawn Care.Obviously, the industry’s Qualified & Licensed Professional Applicators apply pest control products in a DILUTE form.Conversely, Do-It-Yourself Homeowners who apply these same products themselves must STORE THEM IN THE HOME in a CONCENTRATED form.It is the STORAGE of these products in the home that lead to the POISONING OF CHILDREN.However, there is NOT ONE KNOWN CASE OF POISONING from the proper use of pest control products by Qualified & Licensed Professional Applicators.Furthermore, DILUTED products are tens of thousands of times LESS TOXIC than CONCENTRATED products.
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