A provincial committee struck this week to look at banning the use of cosmetic pesticides in B.C. is gathering comments as Coquitlam council considers a new bylaw to prohibit use and sale of the chemicals in the city.
At Monday's engineering committee meeting, city staff are expected to present the draft regulations, which have already stirred up debate among gardening experts, health officials and environmentalists.
The proposed bylaw, if passed, would ban cosmetic pesticides from being sprayed on residential properties but it wouldn't prohibit the products from being sold locally.
Wim Vander Zalm of Art Knapp Plantland, which has a store in Port Coquitlam, said council is making a decision outside of its jurisdiction as Health Canada has approved - and regulated - cosmetic pesticides.
"It's frustrating to see [council] based their decision on scare tactics," he told The Tri-City News yesterday. "Their claims about pesticides are untrue and biased, and I think it's unfortunate. To be honest, it's also unconstitutional."
Vander Zalm said he has already submitted a letter to the new provincial committee, which is soliciting for online written, video or audio comments until Dec. 16 via www.leg.bc.ca/pesticidescommittee. It plans to release its final report on the topic by February.
The non-partisan committee, which will have its first public meeting in Victoria on Wednesday, is made up of MLAs Bill Bennett (chair, Kootenay East); Rob Fleming (vice-chair, Victoria-Swan Lake); Scott Fraser (Alberni-Pacific Rim); Barry Penner (Chilliwack-Hope); John Slater (Boundary-Similkameen); Ben Stewart (Westside-Kelowna); John Yap (Richmond-Stevenston); and Michael Sather (Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows), the NDP's environment critic, who holds a bachelor of science degree in zoology.
"Understanding how British Columbians feel about the use and sale of pesticides is an important element of the committee's work," Bennett said in a news release. "This consultation process provides the public with an opportunity to contribute their views to the discussion on how pesticides should be used and regulated in the province."
Last year and in 2009, the ministry held a web-based public consultation that yielded more than 8,000 responses.
Coquitlam Coun. Selina Robinson, who has been pressing her council colleagues for a pesticide ban since 2009, said it's time for less talk and more action.
jwarren@tricitynews.com
