The federal government is going to make it more difficult
for Canadians to order pesticides online and have them imported without much
checking.
Right now, if someone buys the pesticides for use in
controlling weeds or insects around their own home and doesn't exceed the
amount that qualifies for an exemption, there is little that authorities can do
to stop the shipment, say government officials.
The problems is that householders can import any pesticide,
even ones not registered in the country of origin or by Canada’s Pest Review
Management Agency, says Health Canada.
The loophole allows any pesticide to be imported if it’s
going to be used on the importer’s property. Commercial uses remain under
control.
The current rules allow imports of less than 500 g or
500 ml and under $100 in value.
"As a result, neither Health Canada nor the Canada
Border Services Agency (CBSA) has the authority to refuse entry of such
products if they meet the exemption criteria," say officials in the Pest
Management Review Agency, which is part of Health Canada.
"The possibility of Internet sales and the potential
threats such sales could pose to human health and the environment were not
envisaged when the exemption was created in 1972," the officials have
written.
They admit they don’t know how much is being imported. They
probably also don’t know what’s being purchased.
Health Canada says it has identified more than 3,000
pest-control products for sale on foreign online retail websites.
The notice says Health Canada believes purchases by
Canadians of prohibited pesticides are on the rise.
"Health Canada has noticed that the number of
potentially dangerous products being imported has been increasing along with
the growth of imports via courier and post," it wrote.
"Products that have been referred to Health Canada by
the CBSA from the courier/mail stream include restricted class fumigants as
well as various commercial class products intended to be used by licensed
applicators with the appropriate training and equipment."
A pilot project at one courier entry point in Ontario
between May and September 2015 resulted in 108 packages referred by CBSA to
Health Canada and 454 kg of unregistered pest-control products blocked from
entering Canada.
The current rules also have no restriction on how many
orders someone can place, as long as each order is within the size limit.
"Importers can circumvent the quantity limit set out in
the exemption by placing many separate orders via the Internet," officials
wrote.
"This allows individuals and businesses to import
virtually unlimited quantities of unregistered products for possible commercial
use or resale — both of which contradict the 'personal use' criterion
and intent of the exemption."
Shipping potentially dangerous pest control products into
the country can also be a safety risk for those who handle it along the way
— from warehouse employees and postal workers to border services officers,
the government says.
On a different front, the federal government has said it’s
ready to tighten the regulations that allow for own-use importation of
livestock and poultry medicines.
Under the changes the government is proposing, pesticides
ordered online could be stopped at the border because new rules will
require individuals to have the chemicals in their personal
possession in order to bring them into the country.
A further restriction, the pesticide would also have to be
equivalent to a domestic class product already authorized for sale in Canada.
The total quantity could not exceed 500 g or 500 ml per
person and per package, preventing people from claiming they are combining
their exemptions in order to bring a larger package into the country.
The pesticide would also have to be in its original
packaging and the labels must include at least one of Canada's official
languages to allow Canadian officials to read and understand them.
And they must be registered and approved in the country of
origin.
