Canada making progress on the use of pesticides for cosmetic purposes

On March 4, 2008 the Ontario, government confirmed sweeping new regulations banning 85 pesticides for lawn and landscape applications. The new regulations will prohibit the sale and use of 2,4-D in its concentrated form, as well as the use of 85 other class 8 pesticides. Gideon Forman of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment told the Toronto Star the 85 pesticides are "found in roughly 250 products" used for cosmetic purposes. The ban -- the latest step in the provincial Cosmetic Pesticides Ban Act, passed last June -- is slated to take effect on Earth Day, April 22. Retailers will be immediately required to store and display pesticides behind the counter, and by 2011 they will have to notify customers of the new limitations on use. Despite industry resistance to the ban, many landscapers are already switching to organic and least-toxic alternatives.