8 - Sunday, July 14, 1991 - North Shore News

CN pesticide protest

Work disrupted in dispute over
spraying at Lynn Creek yard

A LABOR dispute over pesticide spraying caused one Cana-
dian National (CN) Railway worker to stop work Wed-

nesday at the company’s
couver.

And while a CN official said
the pesticide that was sprayed is
not harmful, a Greenpeace
spokesman said the chemical is
Iethal.

United Transportation Union
(UTU) spokesman Chuck Lewis
said one of his members refused
to continue working after it was
learned the Lynn Creek yard and
the tracks in the area had been
sprayed with a pesticide.

**The concern our employee had
was what effect would the
pesticide have on him. Nobody
seems to know how dangerous this
stuff is,’’ said Lewis.

He added that CN’s provincial
pesticide spraying permit contains
several conditions before spraying
is allowed.

A union member said two of
those conditions are that the
employees must be notified before
spraying begins and that spraying
cannot be conducted if winds are
gusting more than five miles per
hour. The member claimed winds
were blowing at 10 miles per hour
at the time.

CN spokesman Wes Kelley
denied the company had violated
its pesticide spraying permit. He
said Karmex, the pesticide used by
CN, is ‘‘probably as potent as

Asprin or table salt.’”
But Lewis questioned how much

That First Spring

Lynn Creek yard in North Van-

By Surj Rattan
News Reporter

Kelicy actually knows about the
pesticide.

“This guy is making all these
statements. He's not out in the
yard working with it," said Lewis,
who added that the one employee
who refused to work is now back
on the job.

Lewis said he has since received
a memo from CN officials saying
the spraying program has been
“suspended until further notice.”

Kelley said that workers were
given advance notice of the spray-
ing and that there are strict condi-
tions that govern the spraying of
pesticides.

“If it gets too windy; we don't
do it,’ Kelley said. ‘‘Those who
wanted more information on the
pesticide were supplied it. It took
about four hours to get it. Our
operations were not affected; it’s
not like everything came to a
halt.

“We're quite sensitive to this
issue; nobody would fool around
with a safety issue,”* he said.

According to the Handbook for
Pesticide Applications and
Pesticide Dispensers, published by
the B.C. Environment Ministry,
Karmex, also known as Diuron, is
defined as a subsituted urea used

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to kill weeds and bushes. [t re-

quires moisture to move the chem- .

ical into the root of the plant and
is noncorrosive and nonflamable.

Greenpeace spokesman Brian
Killeen said Karmex ts a lethal
chemical.

“It's acutely lethal to rats which
probably means it’s lethal to
humans. It has extiemely acute
toxic materials," said Killeen.
“—T’m not surprised they (CN)
workers didn’t want to work.”

He added that Karmen contains
the chemical Diuron and said
Hopkins Agricultural, a United
States-based pesticide manufac-
turer, has stopped producing
Diuron.

“The use oi pesticides is the
least expensive way for them to
kill weeds. They could do it by
hand or they could spray steam;
but that’s more expensive,’’ Kilcen
said. ‘‘With Karmex, we're look-
ing at long-term problems with
toxics leaching into waterways."*

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