Londonderry, NH, August 5, 2020 – A brand new nationwide survey1 from Stonyfield Natural finds that 85% of Individuals have sought sanctuary within the nice open air throughout COVID-19, with 52% of respondents saying a day by day stroll outdoors stored them “sane” and 50% steadily hung out of their yard or a public park. Maybe the best silver lining is that forty-three p.c of respondents additionally mentioned they now respect the outside “greater than ever.” The escape to the good open air additionally utilized to the nation’s four-legged pals with 64% of respondents saying they took extra walks with their canine throughout quarantine.
Regardless of the nation’s appreciation of the outside as a sanctuary from the continuing pandemic, most Individuals (56%) say they nonetheless use glyphosate or different dangerous pesticides to deal with their very own lawns and inexperienced areas. Moreover, 65% of enjoying fields within the U.S. are sprayed with dangerous pesticides2 like glyphosate, 2,4-D and Dicamba, a supply of concern for chemical publicity at a time when many individuals and pets are counting on them as by no means earlier than.
Persevering with its work to cease the usage of dangerous pesticides not simply within the meals we eat, but additionally within the nation’s inexperienced areas, Stonyfield Natural, the nation’s main natural yogurt maker, is saying the newest part of its #PlayFree initiative. This yr, along with offering assets and actionable steps for shoppers to make a change to natural garden upkeep at house, Stonyfield Natural can also be teaming up with 14 new communities to transform out of doors fields and parks to natural grounds administration.
Because the launch of #PlayFree in 2018, Stonyfield Natural has contributed over $2 million {dollars} to the initiative, teaming up with 35 communities nationwide to help with their transitions to natural grounds administration and bringing natural mannequin fields to tens of millions of individuals.
“With appreciation for out of doors areas at a excessive, we need to be certain that folks know the way to get pleasure from them to the fullest by ensuring they’re free from dangerous chemical compounds and pesticides,” mentioned Gary Hirshberg, Stonyfield Natural co-founder and Chief Natural Optimist. “The first cause Individuals proceed to deal with their very own yards with pesticides is as a result of they’re skeptical that natural upkeep could be as impactful as chemical upkeep. That’s merely not the case as we now have seen large outcomes from our collaborating StonyFIELD #PlayFree communities, who’re reporting not solely more healthy parks and fields but additionally a lower in upkeep prices over time. Given this success and the rising significance of time spent outdoors, it’s our continued mission to deliver natural upkeep, with out the usage of dangerous pesticides, to as many communities and backyards as doable.”
Every of this yr’s chosen communities will obtain a financial donation to make use of towards the acquisition of natural inputs and/or landscaping gear wanted for natural grounds administration. The communities may even obtain technical assist and steerage underwritten by Stonyfield from the yogurt maker’s skilled collaborators, together with Past Pesticides, Non-Poisonous Neighborhoods, Osborne Organics and Midwest Grows Inexperienced.
The most recent 14 communities to group up with Stonyfield Natural for natural discipline conversions embrace:
· Cambridge, MA
· Chicago, IL
· Nice Neck, NY
· Madison, WI
· Manchester, NH
· Northampton, MA *donation will go in direction of coaching new workers on natural upkeep
· Philadelphia, PA
· Portland, ME
· Choose fields in Hawaii
· South Orange, NJ
· Tempe, AZ
· Tucson, AZ
· Virginia Seaside, VA
· Wilmington, NC
Philadelphia Councilmember Cindy Bass, of the eighth District, is proud to group up with Stonyfield Natural and Non-Poisonous Neighborhoods to assist the Metropolis of Philadelphia’s Natural & Regenerative Pilot Park Venture. “This undertaking is a continuation of our dedication to creating wholesome and clear environments, notably in underserved communities which have been stricken by problems with enhanced publicity to environmental toxins,” mentioned Bass.
Going to the Canines
Stonyfield Natural is encouraging folks to begin at house with natural garden and backyard upkeep, each for the well being of their households in addition to their pets who could be much more weak to the adversarial results of pesticides. Actually, research have proven canine have a 70% larger threat of canine lymphoma most cancers after herbicide-treated garden publicity than canine not uncovered.3
In describing an important methods they care for his or her pets, limiting publicity to pesticides was ranked because the lowest precedence general and nearly all of pet mother and father (58%) weren’t conscious that public parks are utilizing pesticides to deal with the grass the place their pups run and play. Paradoxically, 75% of pet house owners assume it’s vital for people to take their footwear off earlier than getting into a home, however 77% don’t wipe their pet’s paws after outdoors play and walks, leaving the door open for pesticide residue to be tracked inside the house. What’s much more alarming, 74% of canine house owners additionally mentioned they let their canine sleep on the mattress or sofa!
“From a pet perspective, the difficulty of pesticides on backyards, parks and fields – and the unfavorable well being results they will have on our pets – is one which I want extra pet mother and father had been conscious of,” mentioned superstar veterinarian Dr. Lisa Lippman, DVM. “Actually, given that insecticides might trigger something akin to nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and even seizures or demise in canine,4 I feel it’s crucial that pet mother and father take steps to restrict their canine’ publicity and I encourage everybody to take a look at the nice assets Stonyfield has supplied on its web site for folks to make change each in their very own backyards in addition to native communities.”
Stonyfield Natural’s #PlayFree initiative deepens the mission-led model’s dedication to points past the meals aisle by shedding gentle on an often-overlooked challenge. In a 2018 survey,5 Stonyfield Natural discovered that whereas most American mother and father (69%) wish to reduce their youngsters’s publicity to pesticides in meals, practically the identical quantity (67%) don’t contemplate publicity at sports activities fields, playgrounds and parks to be of concern. Stonyfield is raring to deliver consideration to this challenge by empowering everybody to make change regionally and at house to guard the well being of youngsters, their pets and the surroundings.
“A number of of essentially the most generally used chemical compounds on enjoying fields are both confirmed or doubtless endocrine disruptors, which might intervene with the event of youngsters’s immune, reproductive, and metabolic techniques,” says Philip Landrigan, MD, MSc, Founding Director of the Youngsters’s Environmental Well being Middle at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and creator of the guide Youngsters and Environmental Toxins: What Everybody Must Know. “I applaud Stony-field and its collaborators for this initiative and encourage all mother and father to get entangled of their native communities.”
To discover ways to take motion in your individual group and yard, go to https://www.stonyfield.com/playfree.
About Stonyfield Natural
Because the nation’s main natural yogurt maker, Stonyfield takes care with every little thing it places into its merchandise and every little thing it retains out. By saying no to poisonous persistent pesticides, synthetic hormones, antibiotics and GMOs, Stonyfield has been saying sure to wholesome meals, wholesome folks, and a wholesome planet for 35 years. Stonyfield, a Licensed B Corp, can also be serving to to guard and protect the subsequent technology of farmers and households via packages like its Direct Milk Provide and Wolfe’s Neck Natural Coaching Program in addition to StonyFIELDS, a nationwide, multi-year initiative to assist hold households free from poisonous persistent pesticides in parks and enjoying fields throughout the nation.
1 Stonyfield Natural and Lab42 surveyed 1,000 adults dwelling within the U.S. age 18 and older in July 2020.
2 Potential Well being Results Associated To Pesticide Use on Athletic Fields. R Gilden-E Friedmann-B Sattler-Ok Squibb-Ok McPhaul – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22512421
3 Takashima-Uebeloer, B., et al. “Family Chemical Exposures and the Danger of Canine Malignant Lympho-ma, a Mannequin for Human Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.” Environmental Res, 112 (2012): 171-176
4 Pesticides and Your Pet. Texas A&M College School Veterinary Medication & Biomedical Sciences – https://vetmed.tamu.edu/information/pet-talk/pesticides-and-your-pet/
5 Stonyfield and Lindberg Worldwide surveyed 1,000 adults age 18 and older, comprised of 500 mother and father with youngsters dwelling at house, in January 2018.
