It’s glyphosate season again in Nova Scotia’s industrial softwood forests.
From NSE, Aug 1, 2017:
The Department of Environment has issued four new approvals for pesticide spraying covering about 1,654 hectares.
Three previously issued multi-year approvals also allow spraying this year.
All provinces allow pesticide spraying. Any pesticides that are used must be registered through Health Canada.
Approval decisions are made by department staff. Approvals contain specific terms and conditions that must be met.
The approvals are available on the department’s website.
———-
Some Links
The Great Glyphosate Debate
by Dave Mance III, In Northern Woodlands, 2012. Good review of why and how it is used, effects.
Conifer Susceptibility to Glyphosate in Nova Scotia
1989 NS Lands and Forests research report established the best time for spraying (approx Aug through to mid Sept)
Non-Profits Sue Monsanto Over Misleading Labeling of Popular Herbicide Roundup
Organic Consumers Association Press release Apr 12, 2017. “Monsanto aggressively markets Roundup as safe for humans and animals, despite newer studies indicating that glyphosate may be carcinogenic and affect human and animal cardiovascular, endocrine, nervous, and reproductive systems. No reasonable consumer seeing these representations would expect that Roundup targets a bacterial enzyme that is found in humans and animals and that affects the health of their immune system.”
ForestInfo.ca
Sponsored by Canadian Federal and Provincial Governments including NS, as well as JD Irving and Forest Nova Scotia amongst others. I couldn’t find a precise statement of the purpose of the site, but it is clearly to promote/defend use of herbicides in forestry. “We’re a group of researchers, scientists, government and industry working together to share resources and information about Forest Renewal and Vegetation Management.” For more on this perspective, also view Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) On the Use of Herbicides in Canadian Forestry by D.G. Thompson, D.G. Pitt (2011), two of the principals in ForestInfo.ca