The Park District of Highland Park wants to spray Confront, a dangerous herbicide not approved for residential use, on children’s athletic fields.
The label on the bottle says “Do not use on residential turf.” Yet families visiting the Park District’s parks and watching athletic games feel at home. Small children drop their snacks and toys and pick them up and put them in their mouths. Older children do this with their water bottles. Families spread out blankets and pets lay on the grass. Later, everyone tracks pesticide residue indoors. If Confront is not safe enough for home use, it’s not safe enough for children’s parks and athletic fields. In four states (New York, Washington, Oregon, and California), Confront may only be used on golf courses. Many cities in the US forbid its sale and use and some provinces in Canada do so as well.
Spraying children’s playing fields with pesticides[1] is unsafe.
Highland Park should not take a chance when it comes to a child’s health. Doctors from the Children’s Environmental Health Center of Mt. Sinai Hospital have sent a statement to the Park District Board asking them not to spray Confront on children’s athletic fields. The Park District selected a crop scientist, Dr. Bruce Branham, to say that spraying Confront on children’s athletic fields is safe. When asked by telephone about his funding sources, Dr. Branham acknowledged that he receives funding from Dow Chemical, the manufacturer of Confront. Thus he can hardly be considered an impartial source. Low levels of pesticides can have serious health impacts. Please see the rebuttal of Dr. Branham’s statement by Beyond Pesticides here and a statement by Environmental Toxicology professor Dr. Warren Porter here.
Spraying children’s playing fields with pesticides is unnecessary.
The fields are in great shape and very playable. (See photos on http://dontspray.weebly.com.) If further improvement is warranted, it is easily achievable through natural turf management techniques. Many cities successfully manage top quality athletic fields without resorting to pesticides, as seen below.
Marblehead, Massachusetts (pop. 19,808) – Its Board of Health has developed an Organic Pest Management Policy in conjunction with Tufts University and the city has been using this pesticide-free approach for about 10 years. Chip Osborne, Chairman of Marblehead’s Recreation and Parks Department and founder of a natural turf management company, traveled to Highland Park and visited the Park District fields in question. He said he found them in very good shape, that the few weeds present did not affect playability, and that the fields could easily be improved by implementing the right practices. Mr. Osborne shared his expertise and findings with the Park District Board at the public meeting on October 11, 2011.
Arcata, California (pop. 17,231) – For 20 years Arcata has been managing its fields, forests, parks, and a semi-pro baseball field without pesticides, according to Mr. Dan Diemer, Superintendent of Parks/Facilities, who provided the Park District Board with a written statement about
Arcata’s successful natural turf management practices.
St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada (pop. 105,000) – For 12 years, the city of St. John’s has not used pesticides on park lands and sports facilities. Its 23 national regulation turf sports fields have thick and healthy turf with virtually no weeds, according to Mr. Brian Head, Operations Manager of the Parks Services Division, who provided the Park District with a written statement about St. John’s successful natural turf management approach.
Highland Park (pop. 30,009) can certainly implement a successful natural turf management program that is pesticide-free, using one/more of the above cities as a model.
A Natural Turf Management Program is needed.
The community asks the Park District to hire a vetted consultant with a top track record in natural turf management of athletic fields to work with the Park District to design and help implement a Natural Turf Management Program. This effort should be budgeted and funded adequately to ensure success. The Park District is currently paying consultants to study ways to renovate Rosewood Beach and to create a plan for repairing or replacing the bluff stairs connecting Central Park to Park Avenue Beach. Certainly it behooves the Park District to hire a consultant for an issue that impacts children’s health and safety. The
community also asks the Park District of Highland Park to please continue the efforts for transparency by responding to the community’s questions and concerns. Highland Park always strives to be best in class and should lead the North Shore in being pesticide-free.
[1] The term “pesticides” is used in a generic sense and includes herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, etc.
Susan Merdinger
8:53 am on Friday, October 21, 2011
Does our town want to have a "cluster" of cancer cases?
What is going on here? WE are asked to do all sorts of "green" things- to help our environment- like separating recyclables for collection, and disposing properly of batteries and left-oever paint. And now our town wants to jeopardize the health and well-being of its citizens - of all ages?
This simply does not make sense and it demands a public outcry.
forest barbieri
1:46 pm on Friday, October 21, 2011
I would think that by this time the Park District Board would have gotten the message. No Pesticides! Perhaps they think the will of the people will somehow just go away?
Michelle Kramer
8:54 pm on Friday, October 21, 2011
Spraying children's playing fields with herbicides is unsafe and unnecessary.
The community has shown overwhelming support for organic lawn care, especially where our children and pets play. I am grateful that the Park District of Highland Park has the resources to hire an expert in organic turf management to assist Park District staff in the development and successful implementation of a long-term plan for chemical free lawn care. Thank you for this thoughtful and informative article.
Debra Sawyer
11:40 am on Saturday, October 22, 2011
Note that Uncle Adolph uses ad hominem attacks, which are directed against a person rather than against any arguments.
Peer reviewed research shows links between herbicides and cancers in children and dogs, too. Anyone who walks these fields can see that they look just fine and are playable. So why take any chances?
It appears that Uncle Adolph lives in another country and has no stake or standing in this. He need not expend so much energy worrying about how our town maintains its children’s athletic fields.
Debra Sawyer
12:18 am on Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Last year, Dow Chemical, manufacturer of Confront herbicide, had revenue of $16 billion, and posted NET income of $982 million.
Whom do you trust? not-for-profit groups who aim to protect public health and the environment OR billion dollar chemical companies and their lobbyists?
Amy
12:46 pm on Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Good Lord Gathercole and Norah G - go back to Canada and leave Highland Park alone. We neither invited you, nor want you in our backyard. Stop posting on OUR blogs in ALL CAPS and find someone else BOTHER. (See? I can do it too.)
forest barbieri
3:07 pm on Tuesday, October 25, 2011
I realize that Canada is a sparsely populated country with the population equivalent of California so, you may not have much to occupy your time. However, I have to believe that your country and city has it's own issues that your time would be better spent as frankly speaking, we don't give a damn about your opinions on our local issues ehh! Is'nt it Maple Syrup Season somewhere? Maybe Moose spotting time?
Kim Stone
4:40 pm on Tuesday, October 25, 2011
The Park District will be voting on this issue on Thursday Oct 27 at their 6 pm meeting at West Ridge.
Uncle_Adolph
4:23 pm on Thursday, October 27, 2011
Meeting tonight Oct 27. Get your hand weeding tools out ladies.
Remember many municipalities have done this already and as I have said already, it is very hard to keep volunteers coming out to hand weed a sports field when they have other responsibilities. When you cannot maintain the weed transect threshold of under 15% (now its currently %60+-) you may be looking at pesticide use.
Good Luck.
Don't waste your time with For-Profit Chip Osborne.
UncleAdolph
forest barbieri
5:03 pm on Thursday, October 27, 2011
Please inform us as to how the vote goes and whom votes for.
Thank You
_UncleAdolph
7:26 pm on Thursday, October 27, 2011
Petition Demand that the Park District Use Chemical Free Lawn Care
Turf Management Discussion / Resolution No. 11-05
Park Board Unanimously in favor of Resolution No. 11-05
Resolution found here: http://pdhp.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=129&meta_id=6356
All Board members will help with hand weeding.
Kaplan and Weiskropf would like to be on Advisory Board.
Waxman hopes the 500 plus signatures on the chemical free petition will be out hand weeding too.
Michelle Kramer, Dean Moucher and Kim Stone will help organize volunteers.
Users of Sports Fields, students, etc...
One resident pointed out that hand weeding is not as easy as it sounds. Regrowth will occur.
Uncle Adolph
We will be watching the outcome of this, residents have November, April and May 2012 to succeed. If the resident fail in their task they have nobody to blame but themselves. This is quite a challenge.
William H. Gathercole & Norah G
2:38 am on Monday, October 31, 2011
Without the use of conventional pest control products, Highland Park has to resort to the BACK-BREAKING JOB OF WEED-PULLING BY HAND.
This will lead to DISMAL FAILURE, as it has in other jurisdictions.
Without effective weed control products, municipal employees will now be required to CRAWL ON THEIR HANDS AND KNEES on lawns ― pulling weeds manually.
Highland Park's Anti-Pesticide PROHIBITION has converted an educated professional labour force into a group of mere COTTON-PICKERS !
Highland Park will discover that it CANNOT afford the high cost manual labour required for WEED-PULLING.
It will also discover that VOLUNTEERS are TOTALLY UNRELIABLE.
NO ONE wants to be a COTTON-PICKER !
In desperation, municipalities enlist the help of UNRELIABLE resident VOLUNTEERS, most of whom are women, elderly, and unemployed.
Ultimately, municipalities and home-owners are UNABLE to take care of their green spaces, and they will end up LOOKING LIKE GARBAGE DUMPS.
They will be WEED-INFESTED and INSECT-DESTROYED GARBAGE DUMPS.
forest barbieri
12:06 pm on Monday, October 31, 2011
Ok, so as I read the draft resolution....it is VERY obvious that we have three lawyers on the board..... it basically says the following:
The board agrees to hold off chemical treatment as long as it can elicit enough public volunteers to physically weed the fields in November 2011 and March April 2012. Failure to get the community members out there or if the Board determines enough weed pulling has not happened, they reserve the right to chemically treat the weeds.
You have to be kidding me! Now it is the public's responsibility to weed the fields??? The Park District has a $20,000,000 SURPLUS! It has wasted tens of thousands of dollars on the botched Rosewood Beach Project, Given Hundreds of Thousands of dollars to Mr Harris, opps, almost forgot the "Mr Swan & Mr Harris, if you are listening, we are coming for our money." The Park Board is looking to make fools of us and to still chemically treat the Parks! Spend a little Park District money and use YOUR Public Paid employee's or hire part time labor, I am sure we have local residents that could use the money, and PAY to weed. It is YOUR responsibility not the PUBLIC's to Weed. Would you also like the public to come and do YOUR jobs?