Is Your Lawn Safe?

As the weather get’s warmer, most of us are getting ourselves outside to primp our backyards and plant all kinds of edible and visual delights. Some of us are choosing to plant an organic garden because we want to avoid pesticide residue in our food. But what about our lawns? Hopefully you already know this – but just in case you don’t: PLEASE READ!

78 million homes in the US use pesticides in and around their yards.

Suburban lawns use more pesticide per acre than agriculture!

Of the 30 most commonly-used pesticides: 19 have studies pointing toward carcinogens, 13 are linked with birth defects, 21 with reproductive effects, 15 with neurotoxicity, 26 with liver or kidney damage, 27 are sensitizers and/or irritants, and 11 have the potential to disrupt the endocrine (hormonal) system.

The studies about the damaging health effects of lawn and garden pesticides are horrifying, especially for children and pets. Given the fact that 50% of a human’s lifetime exposure to pesticides happens in the first 5 years of their life, means that you should try not to let a baby or toddler near grass that may have  been exposed to pesticides. It’s no joke when you read studies such as one that was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, which found that home and garden pesticide use can increase the risk of childhood leukemia by almost seven times. Lawn pesticides also create a plethora of other diseases and can increase the risk of asthma exponentially. Finally, children ages 6-11 have higher levels of lawn chemicals in their blood than all other age categories.

So, hopefully the above is enough info to convince you to switch to a more natural lawn, if you haven’t already. Check out a great service called Natural Lawns Of America. My sister-in-law uses this service and is really happy with them (Caution: do read the comment below from Dee.)

Here is a great resource on pesticide-free lawns.

I don’t do anything with my lawn. It goes brown in the “off-season” and kind of green when it’s supposed to. Compared to my neighbor’s neon-green grass, it perhaps doesn’t look as perfect, but who cares – at least I’m not spreading carcinogenic chemicals around the area! Besides, when I get round to it, my front lawn will become an edible garden. It’s a total waste of water and space to grow a lawn just for  aesthetic purposes – despite the fact that mine isn’t very pleasing to the eye anyway.

If you live in an apartment building and there’s any grass, try and get everyone in your building to approach the landlord about creating a safe outside area – you owe it you your pets.

Finally, whenever you take your kids and pets out into public grassy area, there’s likely to be a lot of pesticides flying around. Take precautions such as not allowing babies to crawl on grass that you don’t know is absolutely safe and always wash hands after playing outside. It’s also the prime reason why having a “shoe-less” home is a good idea. I’ve yet to convince my husband on this one – but I’m working on it!