An organic organic approach to lawn care is over-due for so many reasons:
- Run off and unnecessary health risks: A stagering amount of chemicals are used every year on lawns. Between 50% and 80% of lawn care chemicals run off lawns with the rain and into storm drains, ending up in the watershed or local ponds, causing algal blooms and feeding the invasive weeds out of control. Again, the majority of lawn chemicals is feeding the invasive weeds in our ponds, not on your lawn! Then, local communities use expensive herbicides to get rid of the invasive weeds in the ponds and low levels of both the fertilizer, pesticides and the herbicide may end up in your drinking water. Use of pesticides and fertilizer in urban and suburban communities contributes significantly to contamination of our drinking water and other surface water supplies. This also increases health risks to children, pets and the elderly and increases school department budgets from learning and behavioral disorders caused by the lawn care chemicals. So, chemicals put on your lawn impact the whole community in many ways, including finances, clean up, invasive weeds and health.
- What ends up in our homes affects children, animals and others: Lawn care chemicals and pesticides get carried indoors into homes on shoes, paws and air currents. Once inside, pesticides linger in carpets, dust, on toys and in the air we breathe. These chemicals normally break down outside over time with sunlight. However, away from sunlight and water, pesticides persist for many months, resulting in longer exposure to these chemicals indoors. According to health experts at the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection prolonged exposure to the pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers in lawn care chemicals is responsible for an alarming increase in the risk of learning and behavioral disorders in children and increased risk in adults for asthma, Parkinsons's disease, cancer and a number of other ailments. The increased health risks are much higher for children, the elderly and our pets. According to Dr. Margo Roman, a veterinary expert, "50 years ago, only 5% of dogs got cancer. Today, over 46% of dogs get cancer, and there is evidence suggesting this alarming rate is caused by the widespread use of lawn care fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides." In response to these concerns, "a new era in pesticide use has begun in Quebec with the banning of many domestic products that have chemicals considered toxic to humans and the environment." Read the report from the Organic Consumers Association.
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