Cornell Cooperative Extension Community Horticulture

Here is the D.E.C.I.D.E. Before You Act brochure mentioned in this article and posted on the CCE Onondaga County website.

Friday, April 20, 2007 — Syracuse Post Standard editorial
It’s not every day when people on opposite sides of a hotly contested issue link arms on something substantial.

So it is reason to cheer that groups for and against a pesticide notification law have found common ground that will help the environment. Pesticide Awareness Week begins Monday, and lawn care businesses and environmental groups have combined efforts to help homeowners make safe, healthy decisions when caring for their lawns and gardens this season.

With Earth Day coming up Sunday and Arbor Day next Friday, it’s the perfect time for such an effort.

Onondaga County Legislator Kathleen Rapp, R-Salina, and representatives from Cornell Cooperative Extension, Pro Scapes Inc. landscaping and lawn care company and the Citizens Campaign for the Environment have come together in a public awareness campaign that will include workshops and lectures and will place brochures in hardware store aisles across the area. The brochures are designed to educate consumers and encourage them to adopt a “long-term approach to managing pests using ways that reduce environmental, health and economic risks.”

The brochure is called D.E.C.I.D.E. Before You Act - D iagnose the problem (consult the Web site resources listed on the back of the brochure). E valuate all options. C hoose carefully. I nvestigate directions and apply carefully. D ispose of correctly. And E valuate the results.

The risks of doing otherwise are real.

According to the Citizens Campaign Web site, research continues to uncover links between pesticide exposures and serious health problems, including several types of cancer, neurological and reproductive disorders and birth defects.

Children are especially vulnerable to overexposure and can be subject to physiological and behavioral changes. In addition, lawn and garden pesticides are a leading cause of bird deaths.

Considering all that, a law requiring neighbors to give two days’ notice before applying the most dangerous pesticides to their lawns remains a good idea. It should be revisited despite the county legislature’s vote against it last June.

Members of the public awareness campaign disagree on that issue and have wisely agreed to put it aside while they pursue their education campaign. Their goal is to make residents who apply pesticides to their yards more aware of their potential impact and the various alternatives to dealing with those pesky grubs, worms, dandelions, etc. At the very least, the campaign will remind people to carefully follow the directions on the containers when they apply any chemicals. On the other end of the spectrum, some homeowners may want to reconsider what constitutes “a good lawn.”

For more information, the Web site of Cornell University Cooperative Extension-Onondaga County has a section on lawn care and pesticides at www.cce.cornell.edu/onondaga; Cornell’s Integrated Pest Management program is at www.nysipm.cornell.edu; and the CNY Nursery and Landscape Association offers information on the importance of trees at www.cnysnla.org.

With a spring-like weekend on tap, now is the perfect time to take a fresh look at the kind of yard care you want to do this year - and how to make it more environmentally responsible.

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