As a Falmouth resident, I am writing to thank the Falmouth Conservation Commission for recommending, and the Falmouth Town Council for considering for adoption this February, an ordinance to impose limits on the use of lawn pesticides, similar to the ordinances passed by neighboring municipalities.

The environmental and health benefits that will follow by limiting residential lawn use of pesticides far outweigh the risk of lawn crabgrass and grubs. A compelling case has already been made that reducing pesticides in our groundwater will help reduce the growing number of marine-destructive algae blooms along our coastline. A case has also been made that reduced lawn pesticide use should reduce the incidence of cancer in our outdoor pets. But even more, the reduction of pesticide use in our community can help and preserve our personal health.

A number of new studies published in 2024 (including by the National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine, the World Health Organization, International Agency for Research on Cancer, and the American Cancer Society), conclude that many, if not most, of the lawn pesticides and herbicides that are found on the shelves of our local stores (including glyphosate; dicamba; 2, 4-D; triclopyr; and atrazine) have links to causing various cancers, Parkinson’s disease, infertility and immune system damage – the incidence of all of which has been increasing, decade by decade, and even among our younger adults, since these pesticides came into common residential use in the mid-20th century.

So thank you, Falmouth Town Council, for taking this important step to pass the Conservation Commission’s recommended ordinance, for the health of our environment, our community and ourselves.

Peggy McGehee
Falmouth