A Review by Donna Morin Miller While the Canadian Cancer Society has thus far sent SafeLawns through seven Canadian provinces to speak about the dangers of pesticide exposure and was a major sponsor of Brett Plymale's award-winning film, A Chemical Reaction, you won't see this kind of support from its American counterparts anytime soon. In his latest book, National Cancer Institute and American Cancer Socie ...

Time Magazine is reporting that a Michigan woman has been charged with a misdemeanor offense and faces 93 days in jail for planting a vegetable garden in her front yard. Like many of us, Julie Bass, of Oak Park, enjoys organic vegetables but was looking to save money by planting her own garden. She opted to plant the organized, neatly arranged raised beds in the front yard instead of the back to encourage n ...

Although we can't quite claim to have started a movement, we are getting a kick out of a few women we're calling the Lawn Kissing Bandits, a group of au naturel pesticide protesters! [caption id="attachment_3911" align="alignleft" width="180" caption="Here is the latest lawn kissing bandit to share her protest of her neighbors' use of pesticides."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_3912" align="alignleft" w ...

In a letter copied to the BCLocalNews.com website, Nancy Falconer, Heath Promotion Co-ordinator for the Canadian Cancer Society, responded to a letter previously written by Lorne Hepworth, President of CropLife Canada, a trade lobbying organization for the pesticide and biotech industry. In his letter, titled, "Nothing Toxic About Pesticide Use in Canada", Hepworth claimed, "There’s nothing toxic about the ...

The New York Times is reporting that Senate Republicans, facing opposition from Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, as well as a number of environmental groups, are hoping to pass H.R. 872 with the 2012 fiscal budget for the Environmental Protection Agency. If passed, H.R. 872 removes protections of the Clean Water Act, which requires special permittin ...

What is your favorite, dog-eared, gardening book? Which books do experienced horticulturists green-thumb through when they need advice? The Republic, of Columbus, Indiana published, Survival guides: the books that keep America's best gardeners growing. Of the four selections, The Organic Lawn Care Manual was chosen by Margie Radebaugh, director of horticulture and education at the Phipps Conservatory and Bo ...

The findings ofa new study published in Diabetes Care has linked exposure to pesticides and other pollutants to Type II Diabetes in the elderly population. Researchers recruited a group of 725 elderly swedes without diabetes. They tested blood samples for levels of pollutants like PCB's- once used in paint, plastics, and for electrical equipment manufacturing and organochlorine pesticides. Then researchers ...

Long-time advocate of cleaning up the polluted Chesapeake Bay, Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), is risking relations with fellow democrats to fight a bill that would threaten clean water regulation. Under the Bush administration, a 2007 EPA rule allowed all pesticides permitted under the Fungicide, Insecticide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) to be exempt from the Clean Water Act, which required additional permit ...

Department of Agriculture Says It Won't Regulate Bio-Tech Bluegrass Partners Scotts Miracle-Gro and Monsanto have gained a significant early-stage victory in their goal to see American landscapes covered with genetically modified grass seed. On Friday the United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) issued a ruling stating that it would not regulate a new bio-te ...

My brain is spinning and hands still shaking as I write this to alert the world of gardening that Don Riddle, the 63-year-old founder of Homestead Gardens, has died. [caption id="attachment_3846" align="alignleft" width="288" caption="Don Riddle, second from left, died Thursday at age 63."][/caption] What makes this even more profoundly sad is that Don apparently took his own life. To have met Don and spent ...