To the Editor,
Re: Premier bitten by pest problem (B.C. Views, May 19).
As a former guest chair of a scholarly session at the University of Alberta (2000) who delivered several scholarly papers, I am shocked that one of their retired professors would voice opinions of this kind in his letter to the editor.
Suggesting that one may safely drink a herbicide such as Roundup makes one shudder.
I wonder if Professor Neil Madsen sprays herbicides on his breakfast eggs?
Anyone who enjoyed Tom Fletcher’s column and makes sweeping comments on the alleged innocence of pesticides is not to be trusted on this important issue.
On May 29, in a letter to the editor of Langley Times, Fletcher’s views were challenged by Marjanne Vrijmoed of Free Spirit Nursery. According to Ms. Vrijmoed, “We are farmers ourselves, and have not used herbicides or pesticides since we have owned our plant nursery (1985). Yet Roundup would have been a big time saver for us. Fletcher’s article, which bluntly states that the use of glyphosates (like Roundup) is safe, could do a lot of harm indeed and is highly irresponsible.”
The only problem with her comment is her reference to “herbicides and pesticides”. Herbicides are pesticides.
K. Jean Cottam,
Ontario