How Canada Keeps Toxic Pesticides on the Market

Canada’s proposed pesticide reforms move in the wrong direction.

By Bruce Lanphear
The following essay was published on May 22 as an OpEd in The Hill Times, a widely read independent newspaper in Ottawa that covers Parliament, federal politics, and public policy. It comes at a moment when Canada is beginning to rethink how it regulates toxic chemicals and pesticides.

While the United States allows the sale of chlorpyrifos and paraquat, Canada banned chlorpyrifos in 2023 and discontinued paraquat shortly afterward. These decisions reflect a growing recognition that some chemicals once considered acceptable carry costs that are measured not only in crop yields, but in children’s brains, chronic disease, and the long-term health of communities.

For more than half a century, pesticides like chlorpyrifos and paraquat were used in Canada under regulations that were supposed to protect human health. Yet one is now known to damage children’s brains, while the other increases the risk of Parkinson’s disease. If …Read More

Safe Food Matters joins other health, environmental, legal and agricultural organizations urging the federal government to remove proposed amendments to the Pest Control Products Act (PCPA) from Bill C-30 and Bill C-31.
The groups warn that the changes weaken scientific and democratic accountability. They weaken Canada’s pesticide oversight system, reduce independent scientific scrutiny, and give politicians greater influence over decisions traditionally guided by scientific evidence. 
The PCPA is the federal law that governs how pesticides are assessed, registered and regulated in Canada. Since 2002, the PCPA has been guided by a core principle: pesticides should only be approved when it has been shown with scientific evidence that NO HARM would arise to people, the environment or future generations from their use.
The amendments proposed in Bills C-30 and C-31 would represent the most significant overhaul of Canada’s pesticide regulatory framework in a generation. 

What Would Change?
Among the most concerning proposals:

Bill C-30: Allows Political Whims to …Read More