Letters to the Editor
There are alternatives to dangerous
pesticides
The News Tribune's July 1 Home and Garden
story, "Extreme weeds," defined a variety of plant types and the
herbicide that works to get rid of them. But the story gave very little
attention to alternatives to pesticide use. Also, statements that herbicides
are not as harmful to humans as insecticides were not reassuring.
The question is never asked: How important
is it to have a perfect lawn? Is it worth exposing your children, your pets and
visiting birds to potentially lethal doses of poisons? Dogs who play on lawns
treated with 2,4-D, a common ingredient in most
weed-and-feeds, develop lymphoma at twice the rate of dogs on untreated lawns.
Children who live in homes where lawn and garden chemicals are used are six
times more likely to develop childhood leukemia than other children. Is a perfect
lawn worth these risks?
Also, there are nontoxic ways to ensure a
healthy lawn with a minimal number of weeds. Lawn owners could use natural corn
gluten in the spring, before growth, and then again in the fall. Corn gluten is
available in bulk at local feed stores. Also, overseeding
in the spring and fall encourages a good supply of grass plants. Another tip is
to mow high (three inches) to give grass the advantage over weedlings.
Leave clippings on the grass for fertilizer, and use a soil-testing kit to find
what kinds of grasses grow best. County extension offices can offer more
advice.
JAN CONLEY
The writer is an environmental activist and a member of the Duluth-based
Environmental Association for Great Lakes Education, or EAGLE.
Red Rock
News
It’s not OK to use herbicides that’re
harmful
It is a
shame that the city of
But wait a
minute . . . Before those of us who oppose the use of synthetic herbicides fall
silent, I’d like to raise some questions about why Sedona’s “alternative trial”
was a failure:
Was an appropriate person, someone
with a strong interest in eliminating synthetic herbicide use, put in charge?
Was he given proper training and
oversight?
Were successful programs in other
cities studied and emulated?
Was an emphasis placed on preventing
weed growth, rather than on costly spraying and removal?
When problems arose, were the
directors of successful programs consulted?
If the
answer to any of these questions is no, and indeed it is, the public is
justified in expecting another, better planned and better executed trial.
Clearly,
there is much more the city can do to cut costs and improve results without
resorting to harmful herbicides. Some
examples include reducing the number of landscaped areas, reintroducing native
grasses and wildflowers, and using prison labor, or the labor of volunteers or
citizens owing community service. All of
these ideas, and more, are working in other cities.
When the
council chose to stop using synthetic herbicides in 2007, they had compelling reasons: the products they were using are harmful to
humans and the environment. They knew
that, and so did the roughly 1200 area residents and 70 business owners who had
signed petitions objecting to the use of such products. Let us hope that Sedona can get back on track
and deliver what area residents want: nontoxic weed control.
Carol Grohs
MPS,
Horticulture,
Red Rock
News
Pull out “bad weeds” at the ballot box
I was most
disappointed to read that Sedona City Council voted in favor of a weed-control
policy that effectively poisons portions of our local citizenry. The lack of compassion shown toward
chemically sensitive people by members of the City Council is, to me, a
remarkable disregard for public safety.
Although,
thankfully, I do not personally suffer from debilitating chemically
sensitivities, I am aware that many of the people who have sensitivities rose
above their personal challenges to work within the system to make known to city
staff the dangers of the policy of spraying poison.
The
council’s decision to vote to continue spraying poison is absurd given that
these chemicals eventually leach their way into our drinking water.
Come next
election, I will protect the environment and the less fortunate in our
community with a vote to pull out the “bad weeds” at the ballot box.
Jerry Gilden
Sedona
Red Rock
News
Sedona shouldn’t use Round-Up on weeds
What motivated
the Sedona City Council to vote 5-2 in favor of spraying herbicides Round-Up
and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid along Hwy. 89A
again?
What
motivated the next decision to come up with a long-term plan that might
preclude spraying herbicides that could be harmful to the environment?
When the
woman who owns Verde Valley Weed Control was asked, by Councilman Rob Adams, if
she could say that she has no concerns for the health of people or the
environment as a result of spraying “regular” herbicides, she replied that she
has trust in “the system” and that if the system says these chemicals are safe,
then she has no doubt that they are as safe as coloring her hair, putting on
lipstick or eating foods grown with pesticides.
I have to
look at the motives behind people’s statements.
The woman who makes her living spraying chemicals has to believe that
they are safe. But are they?
I have to
hope that the Sedona City Council is sincere in its statements to the effect
that it is concerned to learn that all the public parks and schools in Sedona
spray regular herbicides on the lawns that children play upon.
I trust
that council members will actually read the many articles that have been
e-mailed to them about the harmful effects of such chemicals as glyphosate, the
main ingredient in Round-Up.
I would
call upon the City Council to make every effort to implement alternatives to
spraying regular herbicides in Sedona, including revisiting the attempt on
using the alternative herbicide “C-Cide.”
The city’s
Public Works Department has declared that alternative herbicides do not work,
but I am not convinced they gave alternative pest management a fair trial.
Blue
Evening Star
Red Rock
News
Sedona should hire expert weed killer
A few months ago, an issue was brought
before the Sedona City Council. The
issue is the desire of many residents to put a stop to the spraying of toxic
herbicides along Hwy. 89A. A petition circulated
and there were so many signatures that City Manager Eric Levitt
was obligated to bring the issue to the City Council.
At the meeting, residents voiced evidence
supporting the fact that herbicides are toxic and a risk to human health. In addition, it was made clear that non-toxic
weed control measures are available. The
mayor and the council voted unanimously to stop the use of toxic herbicides and
begin the use of safe alternative procedures.
As I understand it, no one with experience
was hired to make the switch. Those who
oversaw the project did not implement the comprehensive program recommended by
experts. As a result, the project did
not succeed.
Now, the decision to use non-toxic
products and procedures is being overturned.
The spraying of toxic herbicides will soon resume. This makes no sense.
There are many cities throughout the
United States that have successfully switched to non-toxic weed control
measures. Even big cities, with large
areas to treat, are making the sustained effort to switch. These cities have decided to make the health
of residents a high priority.
There are people who have made Sedona
their home who wish to live in as clean an environment as possible. Among them are people with severe health
conditions made worse by exposures to poisons.
And that is what herbicides are—poisons.
The city needs to hire an expert and
follow the rigorous comprehensive program required to switch to non-toxic weed
control. If other cities can do it,
certainly Sedona can do it also.
Speak up, residents.
Gina Kerner
Sedona
Sedona
Red Rock News
May
2006
Non-toxic weed control available
I
just recently moved to
I am part of a group of chemically sensitive people who would like the City of
Selene Anema, RN, BSN, PHN
Sedona
Sedona
Red Rock News
June
2006
Regarding
the information that the city plans to spray a toxic weed herbicide along 89A,
I would like to comment. How many years does this information have to be out to
the public and officials that toxic soups for weeds and landscaping is slowly
exterminating beneficial life, such as insects and birds? People today are
living with this residue in their systems, some causing cancer, some causing birth defects. Years and years ago DDT and the
like were banned due to the alarming facts surrounding its use. There are
chemicals in use today that are not far from the same results in people.
Animals are greatly affected, due to their size.
Does
Sedona really have a huge enough weed problem to justify this spraying? Many
people are chemically sensitive; I am one of them, although more to food
chemicals than landscaping and bug spray. However, the entomologists of the
nation have, for many years recognized the decline of beautiful butterflies,
beetles, and beneficial insects. When you think about it, do you see
butterflies about in the numbers that were always taken for granted ten years
ago?
Why can't we be unique, do we have to follow big city regimen? There are other
methods of eradication, such as safe-soap formulas, actual hoeing them (hiring
those that need wages) etc.
I really want to see the city change their mind and not spray POISON in Sedona!
Respectfully,
Sheila Harding
Sedona
Sedona
Red Rock News
Herbicide cessation good for health
I
was pleased and relieved to hear that the Sedona City Council was open and
responsive to the petition presented and the speakers that spoke out last
council session, concerning discontinuing the herbicide spraying along Hwy.
89A.
As
an avid walker and a dog owner, I have shied away from the highway, not knowing
whether it had been sprayed recently or not.
I
will be happy when this detrimental practice is completely discontinued. My father died 16 years ago of a massive
heart attack at an early age. He worked
for the
A
few months before his death, he admitted to me and others, that he had learned
from his 40 years of experience that pesticides and herbicides were the wrong
approach, and that in the long term they were giving us environmental deficits
and insects that mutated to use what was once poison as food.
Susan
Lovit
Sedona
Sedona
Red Rock News
Thanks for halting herbicide spraying
I
appreciate the decision the Sedona City Council made to stop spraying
herbicides along Hwy. 89A while alternative methods of weed control are
investigated over the next four months.
Thank
you, City Council, for listening to the concerns we have of the health effects
of these chemicals, and for taking action.
Your decision will not only help the chemically sensitive, but the
health of all residents and visitors, pets and the ecosystem.
Sedona
can be part of the solution, not the problem.
Gina
Kerner
Sedona