New regulations for pesticides target poisonous plants
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$19 $0 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*No charge for 4 weeks then billed as $19 every four weeks (new subscribers and qualified returning subscribers only). Cancel anytime.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/12/2014 (3389 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The Selinger government has approved new regulations under its legislation to restrict the sale of dandelion-killing synthetic chemical pesticides in Manitoba.
The regulations allow Manitobans to purchase prescribed or restricted chemical pesticides, but only for specific purposes.
Those purposes include controlling plants that are poisonous to humans by touch, such as poison ivy, poison sumac and giant hogweed and to deal with invasive plants species that may negatively affect the health of humans, the environment or the economy.
The regulations also allow for the use of restricted chemical pesticides to destroy noxious weeds under The Noxious Weeds Act and if the pesticide is applied by someone approved by law.
Restricted pesticides can also be used to maintain specialty turf that is used for lawn bowling, lawn tennis or cricket and to maintain to maintain fields used by professional sports teams or fields used in internationally sanctioned sporting events.
The legislation, introduced last April, does not affect golf courses, agriculture or the forestry industry.
The ban on chemical pesticides restrict the use of the potentially harmful chemical pesticides for cosmetic purposes on lawns, adjoining sidewalks and patios, school grounds, playgrounds, playing fields, health-care institutions and child-care centre grounds.
In introducing the legislation, Conservation and Water Stewardship Minister Gord Mackintosh said the Ontario College of Family Physicians and the American Academy of Pediatrics have said synthetic-chemical pesticides pose a risk to young children, seniors, pregnant women and pets.
The regulations also spell out that the sale of restricted pesticides must be controlled and that retailers must keep records of who they sell restricted pesticides to for a five-year period. Regulations regarding the sale of restricted pesticides come into effect May 1.
Allowable pesticides under the regulations are any eco-friendly or biological herbicide that contains acetic acid, ammonium soaps of fatty acids, Chondrostereum purpureum strain PFC2139, citric acid, corn gluten meal, fatty acid, iron (ferrous or ferric) sulfate, iron, if present as FeHEDTA (iron chelate), lactic acid, liquid corn gluten, Phoma macrostoma strain 94-44B, Sclerotinia minor, soap (potassium salts of fatty acid), sodium chloride Streptromyces acidiscabies strain RL-110T and Thaxtomin A.
The products that contain these ingredients are Fiesta, an iron-based lawn weed-killer, Scotts EcoSense Weed B Gon, Scotts Turf Builder Lawn Fertilizer with Weed Prevent (corn gluten meal), Vigoro Bio Weed and Feed (corn gluten meal), Scotts EcoSense Pathclear, Green Earth Weed and Grass Killer, Safer Top Gun, Ortho Moss B Gon, Wilson Total WipeOut and Bioprotec Lawn Herbicide.