New Report Shows Repeat Spraying of BC and New Brunswick Forests, Contrary to Federal Approval

New Report Shows Repeat Spraying of BC and New Brunswick Forests, Contrary to Federal Approval
Raising risks to Indigenous people, others who eat forest food
 

TORONTO, March 28, 2025  — A new report shows pesticides are sprayed on Canadian forests up to 7 times in the forestry cycle, not just once – as assumed in Health Canada’s approval for spraying. It also shows the risks to people eating forest foods, including Indigenous people and foragers, have not been assessed.

The report, written by Safe Food Matters Inc., presents data compiled by the Wilderness Committee and Stop Spraying New Brunswick showing cutblocks in New Brunswick and British Columbia have been sprayed 2, 3 or more times with glyphosate, the main pesticide used in forestry. It presents evidence that many Indigenous people eat forest foods, putting them at risk.

Recent science from the University of Northern BC shows glyphosate accumulates and persists for years in forest plants like berries and roots. When asked about the science, the Pest Management …Read More

Open Letter to Health Minister: Cancel Forest Spraying

 

 

 

 

 

Spring 2025
To: Minister of Health, Honourable Marjorie Michel
hcminister.ministresc@hc-sc.gc.ca, marjorie.michel@parl.gc.ca

Re: Cancel Approval of Glyphosate for Forestry Use 

We are Canadian organizations and Indigenous peoples concerned about the spraying of pesticides on our forests.

A new report, Forest Spraying & Forest Food, shows the assessments for the use of glyphosate products on forests are flawed. Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) used a false assumption in its environmental assessment – that spraying occurs infrequently – and did not assess the consumption of food from the forest in assessment even though it was required to.

The result has been high pesticide levels in berries foraged by people as a source of food, disproportionately affecting Indigenous peoples and their food security. Scientific studies and surveys support this finding. Glyphosate is also toxic to terrestrial and aquatic forest species, based on PMRA findings.

We call on you to fulfill your primary mandate of protecting the environment and human …Read More

Win on Glyphosate Product Case!

“Trust us, we got it right” isn’t good enough. Safe Food Matters and friends won in the glyphosate product renewal case, when on February 18 the Federal Court uled that the renewal of a pesticide product used in forestry and agriculture was not reasonable because Health Canada’s decision-making was not adequate.

Glyphosate Product: Safe Food Matters back in court

On January 22, 2025, Safe Food Matters will be in court again, fighting over glyphosate. Our original – still ongoing -lawsuit was about Health Canada’s decision to register glyphosate (“Registration Decision”), and this one is about the 5 year renewal of a product that contains the pesticide. Details on how to attend in person or watch are at the end of this piece.

This fight is about the product “Mad Dog Plus”, and the fact that the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) routinely renews products, on a 5 year basis, without looking into new science on risks arising after major registration decisions.

In 2022 a coalition of groups, us included, provided the PMRA with a list of studies on glyphosate showing new risks, and it appears PMRA did not look into them – at least they couldn’t provide any evidence to show they did.

Mad Dog Plus is used on crops, forests, and …Read More

What’s going on with Natural Health Products in Canada?

You may have seen those mail-in postcards recently, talking about “Natural Health Products”.  Over 1 million postcards were distributed to health food stores, pharmacies and natural health clinics across Canada by the Natural Health Products Protection Association (NHPPA).

Here is a brief synopsis of what’s going on with Natural Health Products (NHPs). Heatlh Canada considers NHPs to be vitamins and minerals, herbal remedies, traditional medicines (traditional Chinese/ Ayurvedic), homeopathic medicines, fatty acids, probiotics and some personal care products.

What’s going on is Health Canada has decided to control and strictly regulate NHPs in the same manner as if they were pharmaceutical drugs. It has done this by considering NHPs as “therapeutic products” in the Food and Drugs Act, whereas previously they were excluded from the definition. This is part of the “self-care framework”, put forward by Health Canada in 2016. This framework is being implemented in steps, the most recent of which …Read More

The Morrissey Report: Health Canada worked with Bayer to discredit valid science

Professor Christy Morrisey published several papers showing high levels of neonicotinoids in Canadian wetlands, including imidacloprid. She also provided unpublished data to Health Canada.

A ban was proposed in 2016 by the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) of Health Canada, partly based on her data. It found “the continued high volume use of imidacloprid in agricultural areas is not sustainable”. (PRVD 2016-20)

But then the PMRA turned around and gave the unpublished data to Bayer, without the consent or knowledge of Morrissey.  Bayer commissioned a report that called Morrissey’s studies and data “irrelevant” (because GPS coordinates for testing had not been provided).

Bayer also redid her testing, but under different conditions, and provided new water monitoring data that inflated the sample size to lower the concentrations.

Then, in 2021, the PMRA reversed its proposed ban, citing in part the Bayer provided data (Re-evaluation Decision RVD 2021-05 May 19, 2021).
Breach of Principles
This behaviour by PMRA …Read More

Capture of Health Canada by Syngenta – Abamectin

In the story of abamectin, there is evidence of capture: from PMRA working with Syngenta to set up the first residue levels, to PMRA discounting valid scientific findings, to accepting Syngenta’s spurious scientific rationale even when it runs against PMRA’s own policy, to not disclosing information that could damage the proposals requested by Syngenta.

Conclusion of the Transformation Agenda: Nothing Transformed

On August 4, 2021, Health Canada announced:

it was pausing proposed increases to pesticide Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs), including for glyphosate
the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) would receive $42 million over three years “to further strengthen its human and environmental health and safety oversight and protection”- the Transformation Agenda.

 

Three years later, and $42 million later, nothing has been transformed. The PMRA is consulting on 4 proposed regulations, that do NOT strengthen protection from pesticides. Two of them do nothing, and two actually make matters worse.

This is despite the fact that PMRA received almost 20,000 comments from members of the public on the proposal to increase MRLs of glyphosate.  It dismissed 94% of the comments, and intends to carry on as usual.

Proposed MRL Regulation

PMRA says in the consultation document that:
“the current MRL setting process protects human health and does not require changes”.
However, the current process does not protect human health.  …Read More

Forest Spraying 3: Forest Fires

Glyphosate is the main pesticide being sprayed on Canadian forests, and it increases the risk of forest fires.
2023 Forest Fires
The 2023 forest fires in Canada were devastating and destructive.  Almost 19 million hectares of forest were burned – markedly more than the previous average of 2.5 million hectares. Hundreds of fires exceeded 10,000 hectares and were considered ““megafires”. (NASA Earth Observatory) Some fires smoldered underground and are emerging as “zombies” fires.

Smoke emitted from the wildfires caused air quality alerts and evacuations in Canada and the United States. In late June, 2023, the smoke crossed the Atlantic, reaching Europe.

Contributing Factors

Climate change is considered a contributing factor. Warmer and drier weather makes vegetation more flammable, increasing the risk of fire.

The forest management practise of spraying with glyphosate is also a contributing factor, in at least two respects. First, spraying the forest with glyphosate- based herbicides dries down the forest even more.  Second, …Read More