Cosmetic Pesticide Legislation To Be Introduced

The province's long-promised cosmetic pesticide ban is scheduled to be introduced in the Manitoba legislature today.

The use of certain weed control products will be prohibited on lawns, driveways, sidewalks and patios, as well as school grounds, playing fields, playgrounds and on health-care institution and child-care centre grounds.

Conservation Minister Gord Mackintosh indicated last summer that the province was planning to have the legislation take effect in December of 2014, with a one-year grace period.

Although the ban won't apply to farmland, Keystone Agricultural Producers president Doug Chorney has said the government is ignoring the process that pesticides must go through to be approved by Health Canada. Chorney also expressed concerns about the spread of noxious weeds to farmland and the creation of an unregulated market for weed control products.

Source: PortageOnline