A new audit from the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development has revealed that the agency responsible for managing pesticide use in Canada is taking years to ban products that are known to harm people and the environment.
Commissioner Julie Gelfand tabled her most recent annual report in Parliament on Tuesday. It determined that the Pest Management Regulatory Agency has allowed the use of conditionally-registered pesticides beyond their five-year recommendation.
There are currently 7,000 pesticides — containing more than 600 active ingredients — available in Canada. Every 15 years the federal agency is required to re-evaluate their safety. Pesticides are placed under conditional registration when more information is needed to confirm the product is safe for people and the environment.
RESULTS
The report found that nine different products have remained conditionally registered for over a decade. Eight of these belonged to the neonicotinoid class of pesticides, which are still used extensively in Canada despite widespread concern that they pose a threat to bees, other pollinators, and broader ecosystems. In July 2015, Ontario became the first jurisdiction in North America to begin reducing the number of acres planted with neonicotinoid-coated seeds.
Other findings from the audit include:
- Failure to complete a public registry of conditionally-registered products and their associated conditions;
- Insufficient progress in completing re-evaluations of older pesticides;
- Neglect to state whether a pesticide was conditionally registered, with the conditions of registration sometimes out of date or missing;
- Failure to cancel registration of some pesticides when it concluded that they had unacceptable risks.
THE CONCLUSION
Overall, Gelfand’s audit found that the agency has not always acted in a timely manner to protect the health of Canadians and the environment from pesticides proven to pose health risks.
Her office recommends that a public registry of pest control products and public communication should be maintained. The agency should be communicating consistently with its users by offering access to:
- which products it has decided to remove from the market,
- which uses it has decided to prohibit,
- what mitigation measures it has decided to enact, and
- when these changes will happen