Whether it’s blooming flowers and apples in orchards, or the coffee and avocados that accompany your breakfast, many of the foods and plants we encounter in our everyday lives are made possible because of the tiny critters known as pollinators.
That’s why, thanks to the generous support of people like you, we’ve been able to continue our hard fought legal battle to protect these important species from risky neonicotinoid (neonic) pesticides.
This includes our most recent court date.
Since Thursday, my colleague Robert Wright and I have been in court in Toronto fighting to ensure the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) fulfills its regulatory duties and immediately implements restrictions on Thiamethoxam, a pollinator-harming neonic.
The science is clear: Thiamethoxam poses an unacceptable risk to pollinators — a fact the PMRA does not dispute. So why is it putting off implementing restrictions on its use, and instead allowing more of this risky pesticide to be soaked up by our streams, soil and plants, further harming bees and other pollinators?
We say enough is enough. The bees can’t wait.
Ecojustice are arguing, on behalf of its clients David Suzuki Foundation, Equiterre, Friends of the Earth Canada and Wilderness Committee, that the PMRA does not have the authority to prolong environmental risk and delay pollinator-saving restrictions on Thiamethoxam.
We should be able to depend on regulators to follow the rules and take swift and decisive action when it comes to protecting human health and the environment. It’s the law. And when they fail to live up to those responsibilities, you can count on us to put the pressure on.