The Jeollanam-do Provincial Assembly voted on a proposal to “call for the establishment of permissible standards for pesticide usage and pesticide residue in golf courses” at its plenary session on the 20th. The proposal states that the government should set clear standards for the amount of pesticides used in golf courses to prevent excessive use and environmental pollution.
“The Pesticide Control Act requires the safe use of pesticides, but the Water Environment Conservation Act, which sets limits on the use of pesticides on golf courses, only specifies the types of pesticides that are prohibited, creating the illusion that the Pesticide Control Act does not need to be followed,” the council said in its recommendation.
According to the Ministry of Environment’s soil and groundwater information system, both the number of golf courses and the amount of pesticides used nationwide have been steadily increasing since 2010, with the total amount of pesticides used (in terms of ingredients) increasing by 5.39 percent from 202.1 tons in 2020 to 213 tons in 2021. In the first half of this year, Jeonnam Province and the Yeongsan River Basin Environment Agency conducted joint inspections of 41 golf courses, and found a total of 24 violations at 16 courses, resulting in 10 prosecutions and 14 fines.
Representative Kim Jae-chul (Democratic Party of Korea-Boseong 1), who introduced the bill, said, “Many golf courses use pesticides without restrictions, and the amount of use is increasing due to extreme weather events, so the government and the National Assembly 온라인카지노 should revise the relevant laws and establish acceptable standards.”