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petition
It's
All About Healthy Sports Fields!
Ottawa has been a leader, with
its interim pesticide policy: "That public
health is the primary determinant as to whether or
not a toxic substance shall be used in urban areas of
the City of Ottawa. Pesticide use shall be limited to
cases where the health risks of application of the
pesticide are clearly less than the risk to human
health resulting from no action, and where the
pesticide to be used poses less risk to health than
any other practical method of solving the
problem."
CHO members, including parents and coaches, are glad
to be playing on pesticide-free playing fields.
Ottawa companies and products are presently
maintaining resilient, pesticide-free turf that is
weed and insect resistant, without toxic chemicals.
Safe sports fields can also feature other species as
well as or rather than grass, such as clover and
thyme.
PubMed is a well known online service that
provides abstracts of peer-reviewed medical and
scientific literature. Searches of this
literature reveal some interesting facts: Injuries
related to condition of playing fields are reported
in a small number of papers. This was always
related to lack of vegetation and playing in slippery
mud, but not the grass / "weed" species
composition. The most serious, worrisome injuries in
soccer are related to "heading" the ball;
although contact, leading to fractures of the lower
arm, is reported as well.
Pesticides will not prevent muddy fields or bare
earth. Cognitive performance impairment from
heading can only be exacerbated by pesticide
exposures, and pesticides will not prevent collisions
on sports fields.
The two sorts of pesticides contemplated for sports
fields are weed killers (phenoxy herbicides) and
insecticide for grubs (imidacloprid). The
Coalition for a Healthy Ottawa has provided
information sheets on both these topics. Both
sorts of chemicals pose substantial risks to human
and environmental health and their use is not
justified on sports fields.
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