Raise the Hammer

NO THE JURY IS NOT OUT. this is propaganda from the Weedman's of the world. Let's stick to facts.

Epidemiological studies have shown that home use of pesticides is associated with increased cancer risks in children.

Three studies quoted below for your facts.

1. A study by Jonathan Buckley and colleagues from the Children's Cancer Group found that children who had been exposed (in utero and in early childhood) to household pesticides and professional extermination methods within the home were three to seven times more likely to develop non-Hodgkin's lymphoma compared with children who had not been exposed. The more pesticide exposure the children had, the higher their lymphoma rates.[5]

2. James Davis and research associates from the Missouri Department of Health and the University of California-Berkeley, have found that the risk of childhood brain cancer increased more than five-fold in families that used pesticide bombs, no-pest strips and flea collars in or around the home. Brain cancer also posed an elevated risk in families that used pesticides to control garden insects, termites, head lice and garden weeds.[6]

3. In an article critically reviewing 31 studies published between 1970 and 1996, Julie Daniels, Andrew Olshan and David Savitz of the Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, assessed the risk of childhood cancer associated with exposure to pesticides through parental occupation or by residential use. [7] Daniels and her colleagues observed that childhood brain cancer and leukemia were the cancers most studied and that the researchers had found "fairly consistent, moderate increases in risk." [8]

The Cancer-pesticide link is stronger but there is also evidence for a pesticide-neurotoxin link in young children who are particularly more at risk because their brain is still developing.

Regarding the agri-use. I am well aware of the green-revolution and crop yields. No one is asking that farms stop using it. Only that inside cities, parks, residential lawns and cosmetic use be banned. Dandelions or Cancer? You decide.

The by-law IS useless and McQuinty will have to rescue us from a totally preventable cancer and neurotoxin risk. As for your 'awareness' to reduce the use... just look at the photos in this article... and ask yourself how much reduction is occurring?