[Sust-mar] Urgent- Help Nova Scotia get a cosmetic pesticide ban

[M. Reynolds]

The Government of Nova Scotia is working on a law to allow municipal 
councils to pass cosmetic pesticide bans (right now, only the Halifax 
Regional Municipality can prohibit cosmetic pesticide use, and even this is 
limited to residential property only.) A cosmetic pesticide is any 
herbicide, insecticide, or fungicide used purely for aesthetic purposes, and 
does not include pesticides used in agriculture or forestry.

Allowing municipal councils to ban cosmetic pesticides is good, but it will 
not protect all Nova Scotians from the health effects of pesticide exposure, 
which include an increased risk of cancer, birth defects and learning 
disabilities. The Nova Scotia government should pass a province-wide ban on 
the sale and use of cosmetic pesticides, like the provinces of Quebec and 
Ontario have done.

Please write or phone your MLA and tell them that you want a province-wide 
cosmetic pesticide ban, and you would like municipalities to be allowed to 
pass complementary by-laws if they wish. You can find your MLA by going to 
http://electionsnovascotia.ns.ca/edf/edf.aspx  .If you would like assistance 
contacting your MLA, like more background information on cosmetic pesticides 
or help finding your MLA's contact information, please email M. Reynolds, 
who is with Pesticide Free Nova Scotia (PFNS), at  mfreynolds at eastlink.ca

You can find more information at:
http://www.ecologyaction.ca/content/publications

 Here is a sample of what a letter or email to your MLA could say:


Dear _____:

I support the call for a province wide ban on the sale and use of cosmetic 
pesticides in Nova Scotia, as outlined by Pesticide Free Nova Scotia.

Legislation banning the use of landscape pesticides and removing these 
pesticides from store shelves throughout the province will protect the 
health of all citizens and our environment.  Nova Scotia's legislation 
should be similar to or stronger than the protective legislation on cosmetic 
pesticides passed in Ontario and Quebec. Please do not rely on Integrated 
Pest Management to do this.

I also endorse the position of Pesticide Free Nova Scotia that such 
legislation should permit municipalities to pass their own, complementary, 
pesticide by laws, and should include provision for public education about 
non-chemical alternatives, as well as effective enforcement mechanisms.



Thank you for your attention to this important issue.

Name


Address



Date

Honourable Darrell Dexter, Premier  premier at gov.ns.ca
Office of the Premier
7th Floor, One Government Place
1700 Granville Street
P.O. Box 726
Halifax, Nova Scotia  B3J 2T3

Honourable Sterling Belliveau  min_env at gov.ns.ca

Department of Environment
5th Floor, Terminal Road
5151 Terminal Road
P.O. Box 442
Halifax, Nova Scotia  B3J 2P8

Honourable Ramona Jennex  snsmrmin at gov.ns.ca
Department of Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations
14th Floor North, Maritime Centre
1505 Barrington Street
P.O. Box 216
Halifax, Nova Scotia  B3J 2M4