Fighting pesticides overuse in Canada

Pesticides use is soaring in Canada and people and planet are paying the price. A new report from Ecojustice reveals that pesticide sales in Canada increased by a staggering 47 per cent between 2011 and 2021. These dramatic increases in sales lead to higher and higher exposures for people in Canada and their environment. Canada has become the fifth largest pesticide user in the world, despite having a colder climate than many other countries where pests are reduced in the winter.

These toxic chemicals pose a serious harm to human health. Exposure to pest control products can cause short-term acute health effects, as well as chronic adverse effects that can occur months or years after exposure. While all people in Canada face risks from pesticides, farmers, migrant agricultural workers, and Indigenous Peoples bear the worse impacts.

And it’s not just people who are suffering. Pesticides are designed to kill and they’re wreaking havoc on the ecosystems we depend on for our food and our survival. Pesticides, used largely in agriculture, forestry, and for cosmetic purposes, can contaminate soil, water, and other vegetation. In addition to killing insects or weeds, pesticides pose health risks to a host of other organisms including birds, fish, beneficial insects, non-target plants, and humans.

These harms are not incidental. A broken regulatory system that has been captured by industry results in unacceptable and unnecessary harms. Health Canada suffers from a chronic lack of transparency which can make it difficult for the public to know how decisions are being made and what risks they are being exposed to. Pesticides are often permitted for use without a full understanding of the potential risks and key safeguards in the Pest Control Products Act have yet to be implemented.

Canada takes a market-based approach to pesticide policy that allows multinational agrichemical companies wield control over the agricultural sector. As a result, these companies reap billions in profits at the expense of farmers, workers, and our health and environment.

Canada has committed to reducing the risk of pesticides by at least 50 per cent by 2030, as a signatory of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), which aims to reverse biodiversity loss. Without policy changes, pesticide use will continue to grow, and our environment and health will be increasingly harmed.

Pesticides pose a serious risk to the health of people and the environment, but many of these toxic chemicals are being overused across Canada. Pesticide overuse often provides no tangible benefits for farmers or the agricultural economy and can harm soils and soil processes and beneficial species needed for agriculture.

As UN food experts have noted, the heavy use of pesticides is not required to feed the world. In fact, without or with minimal use of toxic chemicals, it is possible to produce healthier, nutrient-rich food, with higher yields in the longer term, without polluting and exhausting the environment. Studies show that pesticide use can be reduced significantly while still supporting food security and farmer livelihood. Yet, Canada fails to invest in these solutions.

Canada must identify pesticide use reduction as a clear policy goal and align itself with international best practices to better protect people and the environment. Canada must act to reduce pesticide use and hazards to advance its commitments under the 2022 Global Biodiversity Framework. This means taking steps to address short-term reduction and long-term elimination of the most toxic chemicals. Canada must uncouple industry from pesticides decision-making and significantly increase transparency through expanded monitoring, removing confidentiality, and improving access to data.

Ecojustice has a long history of working to protect human health and the environment from risky pesticides and the systemic flaws with Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency’s (PMRA) review and registration process. We have taken the government to court over harmful pesticides such as glyphosate, chlorpyrifos, and tiafenacil. We regularly submit comments at key decision-making junctures and meet with the government to advance health and environmental justice. We raise awareness to shine a light on the broken regulatory system and we’ve submitted more access to information requests than we can count.

We’re committed to continuing the fight to improve pesticides management in Canada and ensure that people and planet are at the heart of government decision-making.

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