Happy Earth Day: 300 Pesticides Banned in Ontario by 2009

Good news that the Ontario government is going to ban 300 pesticides by 2009. Too little, too late for children like Carlitos, the son of farm workers, whose birth defects are directly contributable to the use of pesticides.

Too little, too late for my mother who developed Parkinson's disease in her late 60's. She suffered terribly from dementia and became almost unrecognizable toward the end.

But this isn't a rant, I am relieved to know I won't have pesticide signs going up around my neighbourhood NEXT spring and kudos to the David Suzuki Foundation and the Canadian Cancer Society whose determined lobbying produced today's resulting ban.

We still have a long way to go however, as pesticide use will still be allowed by the farming and forestry industries and for the purposes of controlling health hazards like mosquitoes. Oh, and did I mention golf courses are exempt? Huh?

So, let your children roll around on the grass in your backyards, at the park, but keep them away from the golf courses.....and the woods... Oh.... and fruits and vegetables....and grain products.....

It's a beginning, only the beginning.