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 Ecological Pest Management strategies, common chemicals used on lawns and landscapes and their health and environmental effects, 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.
- Start Your Own Local Movement!
- Preparing for a Campaign: a framework for winning
(Mary O’Brien, Pesticides and You, Fall 2001). - Calling All Activists: How to start and run a local beyond pesticides organization
(Pesticides and You, Winter 2002-03). - 10 Steps to Grassroots Organizing (Sal Gilbertie).
- Free Listserves: Start a listserve with fellow community members through Yahoo or Topica.
- Free Conference Call Setup: Link activists together or with experts with a call.
- Free Petition: Start an online petition to bring before local decision makers.
- Local Organic Land Management, IPM and Pesticide Reduction Policies and Programs
An Organic Land Management program, or 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
- Model Ordinance for Public Property.
- Applicable to all localities in the United States, but only restricts pesticide use on publicly owned property. If you live in one of the 21 states that are not explicitly pre-empted by state pesticide policy we encourage you to use the Model Ordinance for Public and Private Property, below.
- Model Ordinance for Public and Private Property.
- Applicable only to localities in seven states that are not preempted from adopting local ordinances and 14 states which have the potential authority to create stronger pesticide regulations.
- Applicable only to localities in seven states that are not preempted from adopting local ordinances and 14 states which have the potential authority to create stronger pesticide regulations.
- Model Ordinance for Public Property.
- State Policies
- Connecticut - Proposed 2005 Act Concerning Municipal Restriction of Lawn Care Pesticides
- 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)
- Oregon - HB 3364, the State Integrated Pest Management Act
- State Preemption and Notification Laws
- State Preemption Laws Summarized and Discussed (Local Control)
- Compiled State Premption Law Documents
- State Notification Laws
- Canadian Bylaws Banning Pesticide Use
- Ontario Pesticides Act- The cosmetic use of lawn care pesticides has been banned since April 2009.
- See also 2014 study in the journal Challenges showing decreases averaging 64%, 74% and 69% for common lawn care chemicals 2,4-D, dicamba and mecoprop after the ban on cosmetic lawn care pesticides.
- Toronto
- Québec | FAQ
- Halifax
- Chelsea (en français)
- Hudson (see related materials)
- Shediac
- The Archipelago, an Ontario municipality
- Private Property Pesticide By-laws In Canada, by Mike Christie (May 2008)
- Roles of the Three Levels of Governments Regarding Pesticides in Canada
- Studies Documenting Adverse Effects of Lawn Pesticides:
- Beyond Pesticides' Daily News. 2014. Scientist Warns of Ecological Effects Assoicated with Lawn Care Pesticide Runoff.
- Anthony Samsel and Stephanie Seneff. 2013. Glyphosate’s Suppression of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes and Amino Acid Biosynthesis by the Gut Microbiome: Pathways to Modern Diseases. Entropy 2013, 15(4), 1416-1463; doi:10.3390/e15041416
- Rick A. Relyea 2012. New effects of Roundup on amphibians: Predators reduce herbicide mortality; herbicides induce antipredator morphology. Ecological Applications 22:634–647. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/11-0189.1
- Rosso, A.L., et al. 2008. A case-control study of childhood brain tumors and fathers' hobbies: a Children's Oncology Group study Cancer Causes Control. 19(10)1201-1207
- Teitelbaum, S.L., et al. 2007. Reported residential pesticide use and breast cancer risk on Long Island, New York. American Journal of Epidemiology. 165(6):643-651
- 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
- Statement of Jay Feldman, Beyond Pesticides executive director on Safe Grow Zone Ordinance to Takoma Park City Council. (March 18, 2013)
- 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. GAO, EPA Should take Steps to Improve Its Oversight of Conditional Registrations, August, 2013
- U.S. GAO, Lawn Care Pesticides: Reregistration Falls Further Behind and Exposure Effects Are Uncertain, GAO/RCED-93-80, April 1993.
- U.S. GAO, Lawn Care Pesticides: EPA Needs to Assess State Notification Programs, GAO/RCED-91-208, September 1991.
- U.S. GAO, Lawn Care Pesticides: Risks Remain Uncertain While Prohibited Safety Claims Continue pdf, html, GAO/RCED-90-134, March 1990.
- Other Reports:
- A Cost Comparison of Conventional (Chemical) Turf Management and Natural (Organic) Turf Management for School Athletic Fields (Prepared by Grassroots Environmental Education and National Landscape Expert Chip Osborne, March, 2010)
- The Impact of By-Laws and Public Education Programs on Reducing the Cosmetic / Non-Essential, Residential Use of Pesticides: A Best Practices Review (The Canadian Center for Pollution Prevention, February 26, 2004)
- Systematic Review of Pesticides Human Health Effects (The Ontario College of Family Physicians, April 23, 2004)
- Canadian Cancer Society "breakfast kit" - see Section IV
- Canadian Cancer Society Public Opinion Research- see page 29
- These are the findings of an Ipsos Reid telephone poll conducted on behalf of the Canadian Cancer Society and fielded between the dates of February 5 and 17, 2008. The poll is based on a randomly selected sample of 600 adult British Columbian residents. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within ± 4.0 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult British Columbia population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual British Columbia population according to the 2006 Census data.
- These are the findings of an Ipsos Reid telephone poll conducted on behalf of the Canadian Cancer Society and fielded between the dates of February 5 and 17, 2008. The poll is based on a randomly selected sample of 600 adult British Columbian residents. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within ± 4.0 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult British Columbia population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual British Columbia population according to the 2006 Census data.