Send A Letter – Stop Cosmetic Pesticide Sale

Toxic Free Canada and I spent the weekend at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival with our booth nestled in the middle of the Community Village. As people came by, I asked if they’d heard of Toxic Free Canada, if they’d heard of our PET water bottle reduction campaign, and if they’d heard of our cosmetic pesticide ban campaign. It’s the last one I found most interesting.

For some I had to clarify what cosmetic pesticides were (unnecessary pesticides used to beautify a yard, control weeds in a sidewalk etc) but for most, they couldn’t believe you could still use products like RoundUp anywhere in the province. Well, you can, and even in places where a municipal bylaw prevents you from spraying them, there are some retailers that haven’t yet taken them off their shelves. One retailer specifically, Canadian Tire.

There are two pieces of this situation I find fascinating. The first is the fact that Walmart, which many consider to be the low of the low, respects the bylaws and sells alternatives.

The second is that given all the research out there AND the municipal bylaws, Canadian Tire continues to sell these cosmetic pesticides. These are products that contain many active ingredients that are classified as human carcinogens, reproductive toxins, endocrine-disrupting chemicals or neurotoxins.  When we spray them on our lawns we are exposing people and the environment to dangerous chemicals. Chemicals which are especially threatening to small children who don’t have the same ability to process the chemicals that adults do.

And who spends their summers rolling around on the lawn and playing in everyone’s garden? Children.

But the human health impact is just a part of it, these toxins enter the groundwater and storm drains, traveling into the rivers, streams and oceans, negatively affecting the environment along the way.  Products we use always affect the environment.

Toxic Free Canada is calling on Canadian Tire to remove these products from their shelves, and are encouraging you to write to Canadian Tire to tell them what you think.

Here’s a sample of what I sent:

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Subject: I Oppose the Sale of Dangerous Cosmetic Pesticides

Dear Amy Cole,

I am writing to you to express my concern regarding Canadian Tire’s sale of dangerous cosmetic pesticides such as RoundUp and Killex.  I understand that in British Columbia, my home province, there is no provincial legislation banning their sale, however many municipalities have banned their use because of their threat to human and environmental health.

These pesticides, among others, contain active ingredients that are classified as human carcinogens, reproductive toxins, endocrine-disrupting chemicals and/or neurotoxins.  I understand that they are not declassified by the Canadian Pest Management Regulatory Agency, however international bodies such as the International Agency for Research on Cancer have classified chemicals such as 2, 4-D as possibly carcinogenic to humans.

I am asking that Canadian Tire do as other retailers such as Home Depot and Rona have done and immediately remove these dangerous pesticides from your shelves in respect of the municipal bylaws and the threat these products pose to human and environmental health.

Yours Sincerely,

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And I’ve sent that off to:

Canadian Tire
2180 Yonge Street
P.O. Box 770, Station K
Toronto, ON M4P 2V8

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