Leg Committee Likely to 'Diverge' on Pesticide Ban: Chair

British Columbia's legislative committee on cosmetic pesticide use has a draft report and has started discussing what recommendations to make, but the chair predicts disagreement among members before they finish their work.

"We have a first draft of a report that contains no recommendations yet," said committee chair Bill Bennett. "We're starting to talk about recommendations."

The committee had a three-hour meeting Feb. 15 that was closed to the public, and Wednesday morning meetings are scheduled for the next two weeks. "I'm hoping after that six hours we'll have something that's close to final," said Bennett.

Premier Christy Clark said in May 2011 that there will be a ban and she would appoint a bipartisan committee to consult the public on designing it. She made the commitment a day before the NDP put forward draft legislation in the legislature banning the use of pesticides used for cosmetic purposes.

While there was some disagreement among witnesses about the use of the term "cosmetic," committee members used it to distinguish between chemicals that are used for a health or economic reason, and ones used solely to make a lawn or garden look nicer.

"The NDP are concerned about it, I'm concerned about it," Clark said at the time. "I think as a new way of governing one of the things we can do is engage everyone who's interested in it, set aside all these partisan divides that pull us apart, and find something that we can come together on, and I think this is that issue."

Chair predicts split on 'big recommendations'

Since October, the committee has heard from a wide range of experts and advocates.

Bennett said the committee process has been remarkably collegial and collaborative, but that he doubts they'll arrive at a consensus on recommendations. Members include Liberals John Slater, John Yap, Ben Stewart and Murray Coell, and NDP MLAs Rob Fleming, Scott Fraser and Michael Sather.

"We're trying to find common ground and so far we've been able to do that," said Bennett. "I think as we get closer to the end of the process, the two sides of the committee will eventually diverge on what the big recommendations are and how far we go with bans and so forth."

Committee members are working to analyze sometimes conflicting testimony from Health Canada, the Canadian Cancer Society, the David Suzuki Foundation and others, all of it drawing on science, he said.

"We think we're headed toward recommendations that will be based on the best available science in the country, but not everybody will agree with that at the end of the day," he said.

While some expert witnesses told the committee the current regulatory system is sufficient, Bennett said, "there are other scientists who have said there are clear associations between the use of pesticides and cancer and some other health risks. We're going to have to sort all that out."

Public supports a ban: NDP vice-chair

The committee will have to consider all the information it has received, said vice-chair Rob Fleming, the NDP MLA for Victoria-Swan Lake.

"It has to weigh the fact public opinion in this exercise has been overwhelmingly in favour of a ban and going in the direction of six other provinces in Canada which do not allow the sale of cosmetic pesticides anymore," he said.

The committee also needs to keep in mind the call from local government representatives who said they want the province to replace the patchwork that now exists with many, but not all, municipalities making their own bylaws to ban the cosmetic use of pesticides, he said.

"I certainly hope B.C. which has, I think oddly, trailed behind the rest of the country on a key environmental health file... can come up with something that puts us on the leading edge of the other provinces in Canada by taking additional steps to protect the health of children, pets, people and the environment," he said.

The committee's final report will juxtapose the testimony it heard from various witnesses, said Bennett. "We'll try and show the public how we've balanced what we've heard and how we've arrived at our recommendations."

While the committee deliberates, the Canadian Cancer Society and other health advocacy groups have been advertising in support of a ban.

[Tags: Politics, Health.]