Marin County to Limit Pesticide Use

By Peter Fimrite, Chronicle Staff Writer
Copyright 1998 San Francisco Chronicle
November 11, 1998



The chemical arsenal used by Marin County workers against rats, roaches and other pests will be drastically reduced under a sweeping new law tentatively approved yesterday by county supervisors.

The law, which is scheduled for adoption December 1, would require Marin County departments to immediately stop using all dangerous pesticides suspected of causing cancer and other ailments. The use of all other pesticides would have to be reduced by 75 percent by 2004.

"This will have a major impact because Marin has continued to use a number of toxic chemicals," said Greg Small, executive director of Pesticide Watch, the group that spearheaded the 1996 drive in San Francisco to pass an almost identical ordinance. "It sends a message to the people of Marin that pesticides are not safe, and we should all work to reduce them."

More than 70 ingredients known to cause cancer are allowed by the Environmental Protection Agency, according to Pesticide Watch. These have been linked in studies to leukemia, birth defects, infertility and behavioral problems.

The ordinance, which does not apply to residents or businesses, requires the county to find nontoxic alternatives for controlling everything from gophers to mildew on county property.

The county would set up an Integrated Pest Management Program and appoint an 11-member commission to oversee its implementation. Signs would have to be posted at least four days before and after pesticides are used, except in the case of a public health emergency.

Other Bay Area cities, including Oakland and Berkeley, have also banned most dangerous pesticides and adopted policies for using nontoxic alternatives, but such policies are almost unheard of elsewhere.

The Marin supervisors' support for the law is a major triumph for environmentalists and other activists who have been fighting for years to rid the county of toxic chemicals.

Many of those who packed yesterday's meeting at the Marin County Civic Center were members of Marin County's chemical and "fragrance sensitive" community.

Several wore doctor's masks and one woman wore a full gas mask and carried an oxygen tank to guard against the unseen chemicals in the building.

The plan will cost between $340,000 and $490,000 annually while reducing the cost of pesticides by $5,000. It was dedicated to Julia Kendall, a Marin County activist who died last year from complications related to pesticide poisoning.

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