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Tools
for Change
 In our tools for change section you can learn how to organize your community against pesticide use, discover concrete examples of local IPM strategies, review examples of pesticide free parks, understand legislation, and take note of personal testimonies.
- How to
Organize in Your Community
Are you concerned about the pesticide practices taking place in your community and want things to change? You have the power to set in motion a course for positive reforms. Organizing a campaign in your neighborhood is a forceful way to stand up for your right not to be exposed to toxic chemicals. Consider starting a local Beyond Pesticides organization in your community. You may be reeling with enthusiasm for such an endeavor, and perhaps confusion too. How do you start? What exactly do you do to reform pesticide practices once you have set up your organization? The articles and resources below provide concrete advice and ideas about community pesticide activism.
- Local IPM/Pesticide
Reduction Policies and Programs
A strong integrated pest management (IPM) definition and policy is one
of the best ways to minimize or eliminate exposure to pesticides. IPM is a term that is used loosely with many different
definitions and methods of implementation. Beyond Pesticides defines IPM as a program of prevention, monitoring, and control which offers
the opportunity to eliminate or drastically reduce pesticides,
and to minimize the toxicity of and exposure to any products which are
used. Education, in the form of workshops, training sessions and written
materials, is an essential component of an IPM program. Concrete examples of IPM strategies and pesticide reduction policies have been implemented in the following localities:
- California has been a bastion for growing IPM and Pesticide Reduction policies and programs:
- Arcata,
CA
- San
Francisco, CA (more information at Replacing
Poisons with Precaution in Pest Management)
- San
Diego, CA
- Santa
Barbara, CA
- Santa
Cruz, CA
- Santa
Monica, CA
- Marin,
CA
- Fairfax,
CA
- Berkeley,
CA
- Davis,
CA
- Contra
Costa, CA
- Corte
Madero, CA
- These trends have been support around the nation including:
- Plainville,
CT
- Cuyahoga County, OH
- Madison-Dane
County (weed and feed product ban)
- Marblehead,
MA (organic land care policy)
- Newton,
MA
- Wellesley,
MA
- Wellfleet, MA (Selectmen's meeting minutes, see p. 3)
- Bernards' Township, NJ
- Carrboro,
NC
- Vorhees,
NJ
- Santa
Fe, NM
- Albany,
NY
- New
York City, NY
- King
County, WA (County-wide)
- Pesticide-Free Places: In order to provide citizens with the utmost level of transparency, communities across the country are beginning to put their pesticide free zones on a real-time map! Find outdoor areas in King
County managed pesticide-free or pesticide-reduced to protect people,
water and wildlife. This interactive map lists over 800 parks, garden, trails and natural
areas in King County. Including, of course, parks in the City of
Shoreline and the City of Seattle.
- Olympia,
WA (PBT and pesticide reduction city policy)
- Seattle,
WA (City Program)
- Pesticide-Free
Parks
A growing number of communities across the country, concerned about pesticide
impacts to public health, the environment, and wildlife, are taking actions
that you can replicate in your own city or town. From the north shore
of Massachusetts to San Diego, CA, municipalities are establishing pesticide-free
parks, piloting organic playing fields, passing policies that restrict
pesticides on municipal lands, or voluntarily for private land.
- Some of the most promising examples of pesticide free parks include:
- Eastwood Park
in Mill Valley, CA
- Fairfax, CA
- Santa
Barbara, CA
- Corte Madera, CA
- Plainville,
CT
- Sarasota, FL
- Lawrence,
KS
- Marblehead,
MA (Town-owned land)
- Brick, NJ
- Hazlet,
NJ
- Chatham,
NJ
- Ocean City,
NJ
- Wichita,
KS
- Portland,
OR
- Seattle,
WA
- Shoreline,
WA
- Camden,
ME
- Vorhees,
NJ
- Rockport,
ME
- Rockland
County, NY
- New
Paltz, NY
- Westchester
County, NY
- Branford,
CT (The Sounds article).
- State Policies
Connecticut - Proposed
2005 Act Concerning Municipal Restriction of Lawn Care Pesticides
New Jersey - Proposed
2011 Safe Playing Fields Act
New York - Child Safe Playing Fields Act Passed in 2010 (See Education Law 409-k for schools; Social Services Law 390-g for day care centers)
- State Preemption
and Notification Laws
- Canadian
Bylaws Banning Pesticide Use
- Studies
Documenting Adverse Effects of Lawn Pesticides:
- Declaration
Backgrounder. 2005 April. Beyond Pesticides/National Coalition
for Pesticide-Free Lawns. An overview of scientific studies supporting
hazards of lawn pesticides.
- Sanborn, Margaret,
et al. 2004 April. “Systematic
Review of Pesticides Human Health Effects,” The Ontario
College of Family Physicians (OCFP). Toronto, Ontario.
- Glickman, Lawrence,
et al. 2004. "Herbicide
exposure and the risk of transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary
bladder in Scottish Terriers," Journal of the American
Veterinary Medical Association. 224(8): 1290-1297. (Press
Release)
- Porter, Warren.
2004, Spring. “Do Pesticides
Affect Learning and Behavior? The neuro-endocrine-immune connection,” Pesticides And You. Beyond Pesticides. 21(4):11-15. (Overview
of Dr. Porter's findings published in Environ Health Perspectives
and Toxicology and Industrial Health.)
- Greenlee, Anne,
et al. 2004."Low-Dose
Agrochemicals and Lawn-Care Pesticides Induce Developmental Toxicity
in Murine Preimplantation Embryos," Environ Health
Perspectives. 112(6):703-709.
- Colt, Joanne,
et al. 2004. “Comparison
of pesticide levels in Carpet dust and self-reported pest treatment
practices in four US sites.” J. of Exposure Analysis
and Environ. Epidemiology, 14:74–83.
- Salam, MT,
et al. 2004. "Early
Life Environmental Risk Factors for Asthma: Findings from the Children's
Health Study." Environmental Health Perspectives.
112(6): 760.
- Nishioka, Marcia
G., et al. 2001."Distribution
of 2,4-D in Air and on Surfaces inside Residences after Lawn Applications:
Comparing Exposure Estimates from Various Media for Young Children," Environmental Health Perspectives, 109(11), November.
- Hardell, Lennart
and Mikarl Eriksson. 1999."A
Case-Control Study of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and Exposure to Pesticides," American Cancer Society.
- Zahm, S. "Mortality
study of pesticide applicators and other employees of a lawn care
service company." National Cancer Institute. J. Occup
Environ Med. 1997 Nov;39(11):1055-67.
- Nishioka, Marcia
G., et al. 1996. "Measuring
Transport of Lawn-Applied Herbicide Acids from Turf to Home: Correlation
of Dislodgeable 2,4-D Turf Residues with Carpet Dust and Carpet
Surface Residues," Environmental Science & Technology,
30(11): 3313-3320.
- Hayes, Howard
M., et al. 1991."Case-Control
Study of Canine Malignant Lymphoma: Positive Association With Dog
Owner's Use of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid Herbicides," Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 83:1226-1231.
Testimony
and Public Comments
- 2,4-D
risk assessment Phase 5 of 6 by Beyond Pesticides and friends.
(March 14, 2005)
- Revised
Environmental Guidelines for Responsible Lawn Care and Landscaping by Beyond Pesticides and nearly 20 other groups (January 27, 2005)
- 2,4-D
risk assessment by Beyond Pesticides, NRDC, PAN and some 40 others.
(August 23, 2004)
- Preliminary
Lawn and Environment Guidelines by Beyond
Pesticides. (June 14, 2004) See Daily
News story.
- Statement
of Jay Feldman, Executive Director Beyond Pesticides/NCAMP before
the
Economic And Environmental Affairs Committee, Maryland Senate. (February
9, 1999)
- U.S. General
Accounting Office (GAO) Reports:
- Other Reports:
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