To some readers, the point has been belabored enough already, but I just have a difficult time with the city's position that 'any legal chemical is legal because it has been tested and proven to be safe'. It is this mentality that continues the city's challenged efforts to pour hazardous synthetic chemicals into our lake to kill off all aquatic plant life in the bay.
So what now? Yet another example of a chemical that was inadequately tested having unintended consequences that harm our environment and potentially impact human health. DuPont's weed killer and yard treatment "Imprelis" has been found to create "unfavorable tree symptoms", meaning that applying this lawn treatment kills your tree(s). And not just a few trees. According to a New York Times article, the damage could exceed $1 billion!
This comes just 1 year after a
panel of cancer experts confirmed that chemical regulation in the US is highly inadequate, resulting in many chemicals permitted for use without any knowledge of long-term consequences of such use, and in many cases, little knowledge of the immediate impacts.
As a general guide to good governance, you ought to fully understand what it is that you are doing before you do it. And with all of the reoccuring issues with different chemicals in use in the US, at some point the intelligent decision is to proceed with caution.
On a side note, if any of you contracted with a lawn care company, particularly in the midwest, there is a good chance that this chemical was used. DuPont has established a reimbursement program to help pay for a replacement tree. Hopefully this process has not been created in a manner that makes it extremely difficult to obtain compensation.
See the NY Times article here.
