On Eve of New York Pesticide Vote, Report Shows Organics Costs Less
Chip Osborne and Pat Beckett of Marblehead, Mass., earned environmental awards for their organic trial program.
On the eve of the New York state legislature considering Bill 4983-A that would ban pesticides on any school or daycare grounds, as well as athletic fields, our friend and colleague Chip Osborne has co-authored a groundbreaking report that proves what many of us knew all along: organics are less expensive than synthetic chemicals.
Osborne, who has been in charge of the organic athletic fields in Marblehead, Mass., for the past dozen years, calculated a cost savings of 25 percent. Here are the details:
http://www.grassrootsinfo.org/turfcomparisonreport.pdf.
To learn more about the bill that would make New York the second state in the union to keep pesticides away from children, click here: http://open.nysenate.gov/legislation/api/1.0/html/bill/S4983A. Connecticut was the first in 2005.
Not surprisingly, the industry lobbying organization known as RISE (Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment) came out publicly in opposition of the New York bill that would protect children. Fearing the loss of business, the group called upon the landscape industry to stand in opposition of the bill’s approval.
“Restrictions on these pesticides could create unintended consequences
of overgrown public areas, increased risk of health hazards and
ineffective pest management throughout the state,” said RISE in a March 22 email to members.
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