The federal is adding Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) to its regulatory oversight of pesticides and banning their use for cosmetic purposes on federal government lands.
Health
Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency has been solely responsible for
pesticide regulation at the federal level. Provinces add their own additional
restrictions.
But the federal
press release, from yesterday, suggests that the environment department will
become more involved in pesticide oversight.
“ECCC will
generate real-world data to help make progress on this sustainable approach to
pesticides management in Canada and to better understand the impacts of
pesticides on the environment,” a government news release said.
It
said it is implementing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework with
an objective of preserving biodiversity.
That commitment
includes “reducing the overall risk from pesticides by at least half by 2030,”
the government said.
The statement made
it clear that this isn’t about cutting pesticide use in Canada.
“There are many
ways to reduce risk that are not correlated to reduction in pesticide use — for
example, the timing of application, the effectiveness of a given product,
science and other pest management approaches.”
CropLife
Canada, which represents pesticide manufacturers, is disappointed with the
decision.
“The government’s
newly announced plan to ban the cosmetic use of pesticides on federal lands
runs in direct contradiction to its own risk-based approach to pesticide
regulation,” CropLife said.
