Maplewood could ban non-organic cosmetic lawn chemicals
43 states, including NJ, vests the state govt with the exclusive authority to regulate pesticide use in their state. (Thank you, pesticide lobby!) Can this be one reason why virtually no towns or cities in America have adopted a restrictive pesticide use policy? Hmmm...
At least in NJ local municipalities wanting to adopt a pesticide use ordinance that's different (i.e., more restrictive) than the state's can petition Trenton to get an exemption.
Yes, it can be done in NJ! It's not hard. Also see http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/03/18/3761652/maryland-bee-protection-bill/ It makes sense. We are worried about lead in school water, but we spray poisons all over our kids ball fields and parks and front lawns!?
South Portland moves forward with ban on public and private land. http://www.wral.com/maine-city-moves-forward-with-pesticide-ban/15621757/?comment_order=forward
xavier67 said:
43 states, including NJ, vests the state govt with the exclusive authority to regulate pesticide use in their state. (Thank you, pesticide lobby!) Can this be one reason why virtually no towns or cities in America have adopted a restrictive pesticide use policy? Hmmm...
At least in NJ local municipalities wanting to adopt a pesticide use ordinance that's different (i.e., more restrictive) than the state's can petition Trenton to get an exemption.
I thought it was the environmental lobbies that asked for state regulation. This way you can't have localities deciding anything goes by default or by specifically allowing restricted pesticides.
BG9 said:
xavier67 said:
43 states, including NJ, vests the state govt with the exclusive authority to regulate pesticide use in their state. (Thank you, pesticide lobby!) Can this be one reason why virtually no towns or cities in America have adopted a restrictive pesticide use policy? Hmmm...
At least in NJ local municipalities wanting to adopt a pesticide use ordinance that's different (i.e., more restrictive) than the state's can petition Trenton to get an exemption.
I thought it was the environmental lobbies that asked for state regulation. This way you can't have localities deciding anything goes by default or by specifically allowing restricted pesticides.
Ha! Not really. The laws are designed to limit more strict regulation and indeed were pushed by the chemical lobby when it was clear that towns were going to try to do what was best for their citizens, regardless of the lack of state regulation. Thankfully, NJ is not one of those states which ties the hands of local governments!
Tourn is right.
The pesticide lobby pushed hard across the country and helped to get most states to pass a state pre-emptive law that explicitly bars local municipalities from adopting pesticide regulation ordinances.
That is one reason why two municipalities (Tacoma Park and Montgomery County) that have passed restrictive pesticide use ordinance are in MD. And Ogunquit, another town with a similar ordinance, as well S. Portland who's considering a such ordinance, are in ME. MD and ME are two states out of 7 that do not have the above pre-emptive law.
If Maplewood decides to move forward on this, it would be the first attempt (that I know of) in NJ to test NJ's pre-emptive law, which actually says that municipalities can petition the state for an exemption. But I believe that a municipality has to give a specific problem that it's trying to address by the proposed ordinance. It will be a test case for sure.
I do not anticipate it being a problem to "petition" the state as they seem to be promoting safe lawns.
Ahhh..the beauty of pesticide free lawns! Fresh dandelion flowers are also delicious, battered and pan fried in olive oil. Use your favorite batter.
http://www.food.com/recipe/fried-dandelion-flower-301146
However, if you really hate dandelions, you can limit them by cutting your lawn high and pulling them with a Fiskars Weeder.
Very good explanation on NJ pesticide law and municipal ordinances! See http://www.thewatershed.org/info/SBMWAguidance-MunicipalPesticideRegulation2008.pdf .
The River Of Bees - Poem by William Stanley Merwin
In a dream I returned to the river of bees
Five orange trees by the bridge and
Beside two mills my house
Into whose courtyard a blind man followed
The goats and stood singing
Of what was older
Soon it will be fifteen years
He was old he will have fallen into his eyes
I took my eyes
A long way to the calenders
Room after room asking how shall I live
One of the ends is made of streets
One man processions carry through it
Empty bottles their
Images of hope
It was offered to me by name
Once once and once
In the same city I was born
Asking what shall I say
He will have fallen into his mouth
Men think they are better than grass
I return to his voice rising like a forkful of hay
He was old he is not real nothing is real
Nor the noise of death drawing water
We are the echo of the future
On the door it says what to do to survive
But we were not born to survive
Only to live
I believe you can play sports on fields on dandelions. The field simply needs to be covered with green plants and free of muddy patches. And it needs to have an even surface.
Europe, even China bans some pesticides that are still allowed in the USA. See https://www.revealnews.org/article-legacy/5-pesticides-used-in-us-are-banned-in-other-countries/ .
EU to ban triclosan extensively used in the USA. http://beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/2015/06/eu-to-ban-triclosan-while-epa-and-fda-reject-calls-for-u-s-ban/
tourn said:
I do not anticipate it being a problem to "petition" the state as they seem to be promoting safe lawns.
Ahhh..the beauty of pesticide free lawns! Fresh dandelion flowers are also delicious, battered and pan fried in olive oil. Use your favorite batter.
http://www.food.com/recipe/fried-dandelion-flower-301146
However, if you really hate dandelions, you can limit them by cutting your lawn high and pulling them with a Fiskars Weeder.
Clearly a pawn to the Fiskars Weeder lobby! 
Jackson_Fusion said:If it's absurd to have no limit, it's likewise absurd to have complete prohibition.
If you are saying that the former implies the latter, I question this (supposed) logic (whether discussing pesticides or any other topic.)
tourn said:
Any updates?
Maybe you could call town hall, since you don't live here, and find out, rather than necro bumping the thread repeatedly.
Or look around your own home- you're likely to find the highest activity & "effort" there.
Slactivism at its best!
krugle said:
I'm glad she/he is "necro bumping" this thread.
Great! Then you have an update, or just astroturfing?
See http://www.northjersey.com/towns/law-would-restrict-pesticide-use-on-fields-1.1656549?page=all . Potential pesticide ban on kids playing fields. Call your legislator to support the ban. All the comments by various city officials in the article, many of which are erroneous, prove that there is a false assumption that pesticides are somehow safe. One official even thought that if they bought the chemicals at Home Depot, they do not need a license to apply them to town property. Totally false! Any town employee applying pesticides needs to have the proper license.
tourn said:
See http://www.northjersey.com/towns/law-would-restrict-pesticide-use-on-fields-1.1656549?page=all . Potential pesticide ban on kids playing fields. Call your legislator to support the ban. All the comments by various city officials in the article, many of which are erroneous, prove that there is a false assumption that pesticides are somehow safe. One official even thought that if they bought the chemicals at Home Depoe, they do not need a license to apply them to town property. Totally false! Any town employee applying pesticides needs to have the proper license.
Is "Home Depoe" some sort of knock off Home Depot where you live, aka no where near the town you're hectoring over your pet obsession?
Does "home depoe" sell AstroTurf? How about Spam?
Thanks for the spelling correction. Now call your legislators! By the way, this law would apply to the entire State, not just Maplewood. Wouldn't that be great!
tourn said:
Thanks for the spelling correction. Now call your legislators!
Did you call Peter Welch D-VT? Or do you call legislators from states you don't live in too? 
tourn said:
See http://www.northjersey.com/towns/law-would-restrict-pesticide-use-on-fields-1.1656549?page=all . Potential pesticide ban on kids playing fields. Call your legislator to support the ban. All the comments by various city officials in the article, many of which are erroneous, prove that there is a false assumption that pesticides are somehow safe. One official even thought that if they bought the chemicals at Home Depot, they do not need a license to apply them to town property. Totally false! Any town employee applying pesticides needs to have the proper license.
It's a "bumpy" road, but if we try hard we can pass these common sense restrictions on toxic chemical pesticides!
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Bernard's Township web page has some good info. See http://www.bernards.org/boards_commissions/environmental/ec_organic_lawn_care.aspx .