Hydro One Using Pesticides

May 29, 2014

Hydro One is warning those living in South Frontenac they will be spraying Garlon “as part of its vegetation management program, on the condition that Hydro One reviews the program with township staff, advises adjacent property owners in advance of spraying and does no spraying adjacent to organic farming operations.”

There is no question here of permission. I am certainly not alone in taking issue with the use of poisons when manual labour will deal with the issue and not harm the environment, which includes people.

We seem to have forgotten that we live in a closed system. Poisons, no matter how 'safe' they are purported to be, kill. Be it pesticides, herbicides or suicides, there are alternatives. Yes, it is more labour intensive and the care will be ongoing, but in the end, you have life not death. Studies continue to assess the lingering effects of poisons on our pollinators, animals and humans.

Getting informed about this, apparently yearly, poisoning ritual, I went on line to find out why chemical warfare is deemed necessary to tame nature. Stephen Overbury from Portland wrote a letter to the Smith Falls Record News last August, denouncing the use of chemicals because people would be affected. He called Hydro One and eventually, some three referrals later, was put in touch with the forestry manger for that region, who told him that “in this rural application, they (the poisons) were legal.”

When someone says something is 'legal' it brings Monsanto to mind, as they try to legally fool the public into thinking GMOs are a good thing, are trying to ban a farmer's right to save his crop seeds, or remove our ability to choose non-GMO products.

On the whole the Hydro One site showed the many positive ways staff deal with trees and brush in an environmentally responsible way, but they continue to use herbicides for vegetation control. This must stop. Here is their on-line email. I hope you join me in asking Hydro One to use manual labour to deal with the vegetation over-growth.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , subject: RoW Maintenance Request from Web

There are always alternatives to the use of poisons. Hydro One should spend their money on people, not poisons.

Jocelyne Steeves