Hickman, published in The Brampton Guardian on May 4.

I am a retired federal intelligence analyst, currently specializing in research and writing on lawn pesticides.

Bringing morality and prohibition into this discussion is a red herring.

People were and still are addicted to alcohol. Is Mr. Hickman suggesting that they are addicted to the toxic methods of lawn maintenance?

How can one possibly compare use and abuse of alcohol to the unnecessary use of lawn pesticides? It simply boggles the mind.

Meanwhile, we have credible evidence that even very low level exposures to synthetic pesticides may produce irreversible, very damaging health effects, such as endocrine (hormone) disruption. These serious effects may appear at birth, puberty, maturity or old age and are passed to the next generations.

Indeed grandchildren can be affected by the pesticides their grandparents have inhaled, even in very small quantities.

However, these children don't have all this written on their foreheads. So the medical diagnosis perforce must be indirect, by eliminating other possible causes.

Health Canada doesn't have validated protocols for testing pesticides to detect endocrine disruption. Their data supplier-- the chemical industry-- makes no attempts to replicate and test independent research studies that have found such effects.

K. Jean Cottam, PhD