§ 19-102. Findings and purpose.

(a) In general.

The Mayor and City Council finds as follows:

(1) Pesticides have value when they are used to protect the public health, the environment, and our food and water supply.

(2) Pesticides, by definition, contain toxic substances, many of which may have a detrimental effect on human health, pet health, and the environment.

(3) Certain pesticides have been linked to a host of serious conditions in children including pediatric cancers, decreased cognitive function, and behavioral problems.

(4) Certain pesticides have been linked to a myriad of adult conditions such as Parkinson's disease, diabetes, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, dementia, reproductive dysfunction, Alzheimer's disease, and a variety of cancers including leukemia, lymphoma, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, and lung cancer.

(5) Certain pesticides, especially those containing the chemical glyphosate, have been linked to cancer. For example, in 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a division of the World Health Organization and the world's leading authority on cancer, unanimously concluded that glyphosate is a probable carcinogen. The International Agency for Research on Cancer's determination was based on a rigorous assessment that concluded that there is sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals.

(6) Clean water is essential to human life, wildlife and the environment, and the unnecessary use of pesticides contributes to the deterioration of water quality, as substantiated by several studies including a 2014 USGS study that found 90% of urban waterways have pesticide levels high enough to harm aquatic life.

(7) Bees and other pollinators are crucial to our ecosystem, and the use of neonicotinoid insecticides, which have been repeatedly and strongly linked with the collapse of honey bee colonies, as well as harm to aquatic insects and birds, pose an unacceptable risk to beneficial organisms.

(8) The use of pesticides is not necessary for the management of lawns, especially in light of the risks associated with their use. There are non- and less-toxic alternatives and methods of cultivating a healthy, green lawn that do not pose a threat to public health.

(9) Regulations at the federal and State level, and the risk assessments that inform them, do not mimic real world exposure scenarios and fail to account for synergistic or cumulative effects of multiple chemicals acting on the same pathway; they do not include sufficient evaluation of a pesticide's "inert" ingredients and the pesticide formulations that are sold to consumers; and they often fail to take sensitive populations like children and pollinators into account.

(10) In the absence of adequate regulation at the federal or State level, Baltimore City is compelled to act to protect the health of children, families, pets, and the environment.

(b) Purpose; Goal.

(1) The purpose of this title is to protect the public health and welfare and to minimize the potential pesticide hazard to people and the environment, consistent with the public interest in the benefits derived from the safe use and application of pesticides.

(2) The goal is to inform the public about pesticide applications and minimize the use of pesticides, while not restricting the ability to use pesticides in agriculture, for the protection of public health, or for other public benefit.