To the editor:

Everyone who has lakefront property on Cazenovia Lake should be banned from using lawn chemicals. The chemicalsthat residents around the lake place on their lawns can end up in our water systems and this affects our marine life and is detrimental to our own health. Being someone who is associated with the lake almost every day during the summer, I feel that people need to realize what the pesticides are doing to our lake.

First of all, after pesticides are placed on the lawn, do we expect the pesticides to stay in the same place? No. The pesticides will eventually end up in our water system and eventually the lake. The second reason why people who have lakefront property should not use pesticides is because the chemicals can cause algae to grow and affect the marine life in the lake. Chemicals that are pesticides have Phosphorous and nitrogen that cause ‘dead zones’ when mixed in the water.” The third reason why the lake property owners should not use pesticides on their lawn is the harmful effects the chemicals have on the human body. The chemicals associated with lawn care “are linked to birth defects, mutations, adverse reproductive effects and cancer.”

Being head lifeguard at a waterfront on Cazenovia Lake, I see the direct relationship between people who use chemicals on their lawn and the effect it has on the lake and people associated with the lake. For the health of our lake and the people of Cazenovia, I would ban any owner of lakefront property from using pesticides on their lawns.

Maggie Namy

Cazenovia