It seems as if people couldn’t wait to sign their names at Seedy Sunday in Perth!
If you can help add names, or know of a location to circulate the petition, please contact us at: friendsoflanarkcounty@gmail.com
Sign and share the on-line petition at change.org
No-Spray Petition
To the elected Councillors of Lanark County and the Townships of Lanark Highlands,
Drummond North Elmsley, Beckwith and Montague:
Despite widespread public opposition to herbicide use, Lanark County and several of the Townships within it are making plans to spray our roadsides with toxic herbicides in 2017 in an attempt toeradicate wild parsnip.
The County and Townships are planning to use the herbicides Clearview and Truvist which destroy most or all broadleaf (i.e. non-grass) plants, including milkweed, a plant critical to the survival of the endangered monarch butterfly. Food species for local pollinators stand to be severely damaged or destroyed.
The herbicide Clearview contains aminopyralid which has been banned in other jurisdictions because of its ability to contaminate groundwater. Truvist can also leach into groundwater and contains aminocyclopyrachlor which causes tree death. Both herbicides have been implicated in lawsuits in the United Kingdom and the U.S.
Roadside pesticide applicators are not required to post signs after applying herbicides thereby increasing exposure risk for Lanark County families and their pets.
There is excellent medical evidence that pesticides can seriously affect human health, particularly in children (2012 Systematic Review of Pesticide Health Effects- Ontario College of Family Physicians,
2012).
Since an educational approach is the most effective way to prevent harm from wild parsnip, and because the herbicide use is unlikely to eradicate it, we the undersigned demand that the spraying program be cancelled for the 2017 spraying season and in perpetuity.
-On Tuesday March 7th a presentation against roadside spraying was made to Lanark Highlands council. New information about the issue was presented. Click to download the presentation.
–March 22 is the next County council meeting in Perth.