{news} local control of pesticides

[David Bedell]

This appalling situation engineered by the lawn-care industry is described 
in an article from the Fairfield County Weekly (was it in the New Haven or 
the Hartford Advocate?).  State Sen. Ed Meyer represents the Shoreline towns 
of Branford, Guilford, etc.  "It's basically the tobacco issue all over 
again."   This would be a good issue for local and state candidates to take 
up.


http://fairfieldweekly.com/gbase/News/content.html?oid=oid:110643
The Health Risks of a Green Lawn

State Sen. Ed Meyer and a coalition of public health officials want local 
control of lawn-care pesticides, but they're meeting with stiff resistance 
from industry and leaders of the state's environment committee

by LuAnne Roy - May 5, 2005

Two years ago, state Sen. Ed Meyer lost Adora to cancer. His normally spry 
10-year-old Labrador retriever had suddenly become lethargic. Meyer's 
veterinarian ran tests that revealed that Adora's organs were riddled with 
cancer, which the vet was certain was caused from ingesting poisonous 
lawn-care pesticides. Meyer said he had used pesticides on his lawn in 
Westchester (where he lived before he moved to Guilford, Conn., two years 
ago), and he often walked with Adora on the neighboring golf course.

>From that devastating moment on, Meyer has been on a mission to regulate the 
use of lawn-care pesticides in Connecticut by introducing bills in the 
General Assembly. After two years of hard work, Meyer, along with the other 
28 members of Connecticut's environment committee, managed to raise two 
bills regarding pesticide use. One would allow municipalities to regain 
control of pesticide use in the state; the other would enforce stricter 
guidelines about pesticide use near schools and day-care facilities. 
However, getting the bills introduced was only half the battle.

"It has been intense," Meyer said of his efforts to get his bills heard. 
"The industry lobbyists are using heavy artillery."

What most Connecticut residents don't realize is that they no longer have 
the right to decide where and how much pesticide can be applied in their 
community. A few years ago, the lawn-care industry pressured legislators to 
insert a "preemption" clause in the existing law that "effectively den[ies] 
local residents and decision makers their democratic right to better 
protection when the community decides that minimum standards set by state 
law are insufficient to protect local public and environmental health," 
according to www.protectlocalcontrol.org, an activist website that instructs 
local groups how to remove such clauses once they've been inserted into 
legislation.

... Read full story at 
http://fairfieldweekly.com/gbase/News/content.html?oid=oid:110643