• Weeds Can Be Managed Without Chemical Pesticides
  • SNAP Display at Event
  • Driving Near Recently Sprayed Fields Exposes People to Pesticides
  • LIving Near Fields Increases Pesticide Exposure
  • Learn to Manage Pests Naturally
  • Link to SK Organic Resources
  • Grow a Lush Garden Organically
  • Learn About Pesticides in Foods
  • Learn to Keep Insects Out of your Crops
  • SNAP Tour of Organic Vegetable Garden

USA

Norwalk, Connecticut Passes Ordinance Embracing Organic Land Management    (Beyond Pesticides, July 6, 2022) Norwalk, Connecticut last week passed an ambitious ordinance (see page 121) banning toxic pesticides and implementing pesticide-free management on all public spaces throughout the city.    If a situation arises where a city department wants to use a pesticide not specified in the land management plan, the ordinance establishes an interdepartmental pest management team to evaluate exemption requests.   Local public golf courses are exempt from pesticide restrictions if they commit to following the Environmental Principles for Golf Courses in the United States. Both public golf courses and city land managers must deliver monthly reports to the Norwalk Common Council regarding pesticide use during the preceding month.  While many advocates wanted the Council to go further and extend the pesticide ban to private property, the Common Council is prohibited from doing so due to anti-democratic provisions in Connecticut state law known as pesticide preemption.

Neonics under fire (Jennifer Sass, PANNA blog 21 April 2022)     Maine prohibited use of most neonics on residential landscapes, and New Jersey passed a law that prohibits outdoor, non-agricultural neonic uses. Great links to other posts regarding pollinators and human and animal health including:  Neonic Pesticides: Potential Risks to Brain and Sperm  (Jennifer Sass, PANNA,January 06, 2021) where CDC biomonitoring indicates over 50% of the US population is regularly exposed to neonics as evidenced by their breakdown productsi urine. It does a good job of exploring the various routs of exposure, except one: neonics in flea collars for pets (Seresto brand in the US) and monthly liquid treatments for fleas and lice for pets which form most of the imidacloprid labels in Canada.

Interactive Map of US pesticide laws. sent by Beyond Pesticides on 9 August 2019.

Massachusetts Regulators Restrict Consumer Use of Bee-Toxic Neonicotinoid Pesticides  (Beyond Pesticides, March 3, 2021) Earlier this week, pesticide regulators in the commonwealth of Massachusetts voted to restrict outdoor consumer uses of neonicotinoid insecticides. The move is the result of sustained advocacy from broad coalition of individuals and organizations focused on protecting pollinators and ecosystem health.  SNAP Comment:  This law does not restrict use in pet products and nursery plants or commercial products used by pest control applicators if used indoors or for health reasons.As of 15 March 2021, there are 63 PMRA imidacloprid  and 3 dinotefuran (mostly for tiick and fleas on pets) 1 acetamiprid, and 1 Thiamethoxam (antgel).registered as insecticides consumer (domestic) products, Although I haven't checked the commercial products, there are likely some that can be used by pest control applicators

New Mexico Bill Will Protect Children from Toxic Pesticides Where They Learn and Play (Santa Fe, New Mexico, February 11, 2021)—New Mexico State Senator Brenda McKenna  introduced the Public Schools Pesticide Management Act (PSPMA) (SB 326) in order to protect school children from exposure to toxic pesticides where they learn and play. The legislation advances ecological pest management, an environmentally healthy way to protect children and the public from weeds and pests, within all schools, classrooms, community parks, and playgrounds in the state.   Under PSPMA, only organic and minimum risk pesticides, the least toxic, yet still-effective products on the market will be allowed. Toxic pesticide use will be permitted only under a defined public health emergency, as determined by a public health official.

Philadelphia, PA Passes Herbicide Ban Bill that Encourages Transition to Organic   (Beyond Pesticides, December 4, 2020) The Philadelphia City Council, yesterday afternoon, passed Bill #200425, known as Healthy Outdoor Public Spaces (HOPS), a sweeping ban of herbicides (weed killers) on its public property that stops short of banning all toxic pesticides, while encouraging the adoption of organic land management. With wide support for broad pesticide restrictions from public health and labor groups, scientists, and land managers, the bill was adopted by a unanimous vote. 

Baltimore Becomes Latest Maryland Locality to Restrict Toxic Pesticides on Public and Private Property   (Beyond Pesticides, October 7, 2020) 'This week the Baltimore, Maryland City Council passed an ordinance restricting the use of toxic pesticides on public and private property—including lawns, playing fields, playgrounds, children’s facility (except school system property golf courses are exempt—following an approach similar to legislation first spearheaded by Montgomery County, MD in 2015.'  Link to ordinances and legislations that could be used as example. 

City of South Miami Becomes First Organic Community in Florida   (Beyond Pesticides, November 21, 2019)  'South Miami, under the direction of Mayor Phillip Stoddard, PhD, professor of Biological Science at Florida International University, has a history of leading the state in the protection of public health and the environment. In 2014, the City Commission voted to declare all of South Miami a wildlife sanctuary, thereby restricting the use of highly toxic mosquito adulticides. The move protected populations of the state’s rare and endemic wildlife, such as the Florida bonneted bat, which begins to feed on mosquitoes in the spring at the same time spraying usually begins.   The City’s move toward organic landscaping was borne out of two years of successful trials by city workers and contractors. In 2017, its landscaping request for proposals (RFP) required that, in addition to practices intended to reduce pesticide use, only certified organic or minimum risk products could be used on city property.   As the memorandum for the ordinance reads, “Thus-far this initiative has been a qualified success, allowing the City to cut down on its waste-footprint significantly at relatively little expense, and providing a model for other local government to use as guidance.”'

Court Upholds Right of Local Maryland County to Restrict Pesticides, Rejects Pesticide and Lawn Care Industry Stomping on Local Rights  (Beyond Pesticides, July 15, 2019)  On Friday, Maryland’s highest court upheld the right of local governments to restrict the use of toxic lawn care pesticides more stringently than the state.

State Court Upholds the Right of Local Governments in Maryland to Restrict Pesticides on All Lawns in Their Jurisdiction   (Beyond Pesticides, May 2, 2019) 

Portland’s ban on synthetic pesticides goes into effect Private property owners can use only organic treatments for gardens and lawns. (Press Herald, March 25, 2019)

San Juan Capistrano, CA Passes Organic Landscape Policy for City Lands (Beyond Pesticides, May 9, 2017)

Anchorage, Alaska Passes Law Restricting Toxic Pesticide Use in Public Spaces  (Beyond Pesticides, April 18, 2017)

Local Pesticide Policy Reform Mapping Tool Launched; Sign Petition and Join the Campaign (Beyond Pesticides, December 7, 2016) USA.Two national non-profit advocacy groups, Beyond Pesticides and Organic Consumers Association (OCA), today launched the Map of Local Pesticide Reform Policies, a resource for communities and activists that documents pesticide policies adopted by local communities to protect people, pollinators and the environment. The map spotlights over 115 communities in 21 states that have taken local action to protect their communities from the adverse effects of pesticides by substituting a range of alternative tactics.

Industry Challenges Local Maryland Restrictions of Lawn Pesticides as Preempted by State (Beyond Pesticides, November 30, 20  A landmark Montgomery County, Maryland ordinance, which protects children, pets, wildlife, and the wider environment from the hazards of unnecessary lawn and landscape pesticide use, is facing a legal challenge filed last week by the industry group Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment (RISE). The plaintiffs, which include local chemical lawn care companies and a few individuals, allege that the local ordinance is preempted by state law, despite the fact that Maryland is one of seven states that has not explicitly taken away (or preempted) local authority to restrict pesticides more stringently than the state.