[OPIRG-EVENTS] Fw: Lecture on non-chemical pest (insect) control

["Krishna E. Bera" <keb@Cyblings.ON.CA>]

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Date: Fri, 21 Mar 2003 18:41:46 -0500
From: "Wellman, Mari" <Marie.Wellman@ottawa.ca>
Subject: Lecture


The Bug Man Cometh!
Award-winning scientist to give lecture on insects as non-chemical pest
control

OTTAWA, March 5, 2003 - Entomologist and award-winning science educator
Jeremy McNeil will give a public lecture on alternatives to chemical
pesticides at the Canadian Museum of Nature on March 27 at 7:30 p.m.

A professor at the University of Toronto (Mississauga campus), Dr. McNeil
will explain how the manipulation of certain insect behaviours can reduce
the need for chemical sprays.  For example, with the use of synthesized
female sex pheromones, male insects can be lured into traps for pest
monitoring and mating prevention.  Deploying predatory insects, such as
ladybugs, is an ecologically-friendly alternative to control aphids.

Known affectionately as "Bug Man", Dr. McNeil speaks to about 1,500 school
children in Canada, Europe and Australia each year, and is often recognized
by young fans in Quebec shopping malls.  His work and life are dramatized
for nine to 12 year olds in a 1997 book by Isabelle Clerc, Jeremy McNeil
chercheur et Anh Dao, in which Dr. McNeil is interviewed by a fictional
young journalism student.  

Over the years, he has won several awards for his achievements in entomology
and in promoting public awareness of science, including the 1998 McNeil
Medal from the Royal Society of Canada.  Dr. McNeil appears regularly on
radio and television, and as a judge at local, national and international
science fairs.

Each year in Canada, roughly 50 million kg of pesticides are sprayed.    The
City of Ottawa stopped spraying pesticides on municipal property for
cosmetic purposes in May 2001.  A proposed by-law to restrict pesticide use
on private property was rejected by City Council in December 2002.

Dr. McNeil's lecture is part of the Canadian Museum of Nature's monthly
Perspectives on Nature lecture series.  Admission is $10 ($8 for seniors and
students).  To register, call 566-4791.  The Museum is located at 240 McLeod
St. (at Metcalfe).

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