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Is your
lawn soil alive?
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During my annual pesticide license update seminar last week, we heard from one of the world's leading proponents of organic lawn care, Paul Tukey. In the late 80's, Paul started his own lawn care business Down East (Maine) and grew it into a million-dollar company. Then one day, he got sick. Not sick of the business, physically sick from all the chemicals he was applying to client's lawns. |
 Following
his recovery, he decided it was time to look for a different way of
doing things. He and his doctor had come to believe that his
headaches, nose bleeds and blurred vision were due to the
application of weed killers, primarily the granddaddy of them all:
2,4-D. You probably just call it dandelion killer. (The photo shows
a dandelion "twisting" in response to a 2,4-D application) My ears perked-up when he mentioned 2,4-D. Without writing you a thesis on that herbicide, I can tell you that it was one of the primary ingredients in Agent Orange, which an Institute of Medicine study firmly associated with Hodgkin's and Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, soft tissue sarcoma, among other diseases in veterans. There was also suggestive evidence of a link with prostate cancer, spina bifida in the children of veterans, respiratory cancer and more. Other industry sources will be quick to point out that these illnesses were probably caused by the contaminant in Agent Orange, dioxin. After all, they would tell you, 2,4-D has undergone strict regulatory re-licensing no less than three times since its development over six decades ago.  Others
would say maybe, but what about the two studies linking Kansas
farmers and dogs to lymphatic cancer? Whomever you believe, just be
aware of the potential health risks to you and yours, now and in the
future. And as I pointed out in my "Flip-flop
gardener blog" be sure to follow the proper safety precautions
when applying pesticides. Also follow your lawn care company's
recommendations on watering products in, and allowing the proper
re-entry time into any sprayed areas. Back to Paul Tukey's talk on March 26th.... Paul's own experience set him on a new course out of chemical lawn care and into organic lawn care. At some point he joined forces with organic lawn guru Todd Harrington. One of their most recent high-profile projects was renovating an area of the National Mall in Washington, DC. Paul's basic thesis tells us that chemically treated soils are dead, while organically enriched soils are alive. Use soil food on your lawn, not plant food. You can learn all about it in Paul's book, The Organic Lawn Care Manual. Bob |
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MORE
SafeLawns.org
City of Toronto
- Organic Lawn Care
2,4-D Fact Sheet
- Oregon State (PDF)
Pesticides & Breast Cancer Risk: An Evaluation of 2,4-D
(Cornell)
Bob's blog homepage
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