Don't smell the flowers
Kids and pesticides don't mix
Put your garden in rehab
Get out of town! Banning pesticides in your community

Put your garden in rehab

When our neighbors use insecticides and fertilizers, it doesn’t take long before those chemicals find their way into our bodies. Pesticides easily travel from garden shrubs and flower beds to grass, soil, groundwater, and eventually our drinking water supplies.

You can start protecting yourself from pesticides right now:

• Nature-friendly insecticidal soaps and alternative gardening techniques can replace toxic chemical sprays. Check your local gardening supply store for non-toxic alternatives.
• Compost and fertilize garden beds with natural waste materials. (It’s cheaper than using that imported bat guano, too!)
• Wash and peel fruits and vegetables with a mild, natural detergent to remove pesticide residues.
• Grow native plants to reduce the need for fertilizers and pesticides.
• When grocery shopping, look for produce labeled “100% certified organic” which means the fruits and vegetables don’t contain pesticides.
• Avoid purchasing pesticides. Approximately 1,000 commercial pesticide products for sale in Canada are banned in other nations because of health and environmental concerns. Despite this, we possess a significant amount of power as a consumer. By not buying cosmetic pesticides, we’re sending a message to the manufacturers and to government that we want safer products on our shelves.
• Buy local, organic food and flowers grown without dangerous pesticides when possible.

Learn more:

• For more ways to reduce the risks of pesticide poisonings, visit: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/files/SWAG/10_Steps_to_reduce_pesticide_poisoning.pdf
• Stay away from these! Downloadable poster of harmful pesticide products available in Canada: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/files/NC/DSFPoster_DirtyDozen.pdf

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