Re: To spray, or not to spray

To the Editor,

I was relieved to find your editorial in the Nov. 19 issue of The Bancroft Times, after reading your report in the previous issue on the request from local forestry companies to the South Algonquin council to reconsider the latter's support of West Nippising's moratorium on the aerial spraying of glyphosate on local forests.

I had already drafted a Letter to the Editor pointing out the “selective science” used by the lumber company's representative in his presentation to the council and his avoidance of any discussion relating to more recent, independent research on the negative impacts of glyphosate on bees and other pollinators, including the oft-cited 2021 meta-analysis of 16 previous studies by L Battisti et al.

We've all read about the terrible effects of agri-industrial practices, habitat loss, climate change and other human-created challenges on the survival of pollinators.

Most of us also now understand that with those losses come declining crop yields, rising food prices and, eventually, more widespread famine.

This research is in addition to the the studies you cited about the risks to human health and the environment more broadly, which the lumber industry delegation also largely ignored or dismissed in what sounded like a rather arrogant and specious manner. Self-anointed “experts” should really be careful how they throw around terms like”conspiracy theories” and “pseudo science” when they're dispensing such one-sided data to others who can easily do their own research.

I was also happy to see your corrections to the industry delegates' presentation relating to the bans in several European countries and, closer to home, in Quebec, as well as your observations that much of the Ontario forests subjected to aerial spraying are not remote wildernesses but often, our backyards, our spaces for recreation and reflection, and shared assets others depend on to make their living.

I look forward to reading your next report on South Algonquin council's decision to seek alternative views from non-aligned scientists to assist its decision-making on this issue.

Shelley Boyes

Faraday