Precautionary Principle

May 08, 2008 11:00 am

— By ADRIAN KUZMINSKI

Hats off to Michael Whaling and Andy Mason for once again challenging the use of herbicides and pesticides at the Leatherstocking Golf Course, which borders Otsego Lake, the drinking water reservoir of the Village of Cooperstown.

In a letter to the editor, Sam and Hilda Wilcox make the key point: “... it has become classic for a chemical to be widely used only to find out down the line that, indeed, it was toxic to those who were exposed to it.”

Given this risk of potential significant future harm, environmental scientists have developed the precautionary principle. “The precautionary principle,” the Wikipedia tells us, “is a moral and political principle which states that if an action or policy might cause severe or irreversible harm to the public, in the absence of a scientific consensus that harm would not ensue, the burden of proof falls on those who would advocate taking the action.”

Now there is no scientific consensus that no harm will ensue from the use of herbicides and pesticides. Quite the contrary. Herbicides and pesticides are poisons designed to kill living things. They cannot but carry some risk to the larger environment in which they are used, and to the people exposed to them, even if harmful consequences may not be detected for years. In some circumstances, perhaps to ward off serious disease not otherwise treatable, or to produce a vital product not otherwise obtainable, very careful herbicide and pesticide use might be justified. But it is hard to see what justification there could be for their use for convenience and aesthetics around Otsego Lake.

The risk is real. According to one website: “A 1994 review of death certificates for 618 golf course superintendents by researchers at the University of Iowa’s College of Medicine found an unusually high number of deaths from certain cancers, including brain cancer and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The results were similar to other studies that have found an elevated risk for non- Hodgkin’s lymphoma among farm workers and pesticide applicators.”

Testing for herbicides and pesticides is expensive. The responsibility and costs for full and timely testing should fall on the shoulders of those applying the toxic agents, not the taxpayers. But even state of the art testing with “negative” results is no assurance that what seems “safe” now will remain so in the future. And if no herbicides and pesticides were used, no testing would be necessary.

Undoubtedly greenskeepers at the golf course are scrupulously following current guidelines, and in that context, as Bernie Banas has said, they are “doing everything humanly possible to minimize the risk.”

But it’s time to think outside the box. Golf has been played for hundreds of years “in the rough,” most of that time without herbicides and pesticides. A quick internet search brings up a number of organic golf courses, including the Wawona golf course at Yosemite National Park, operating organically since 1918.

It’s time for the Leatherstocking Golf Course to go organic. It would be an inspiration to the community and an attraction to golfers. It’s also time for our local institutions and governments, including lake-oriented environmental organizations, particularly OCCA, to embrace the precautionary principle. That means moving to ban herbicide and pesticide use in the Otsego Lake watershed, first for nonagricultural uses, and ultimately for agriculture as well, with support provided for farmers making the challenging transition to sustainable organic practices.

Adrian Kuzminski lives in Fly Creek and is a member of Sustainable Otsego.