A Small Group of Thoughtful, Committed Citizens Can Change the Law
Safe Food Matters logs key win on glyphosate case in Canada
The Federal Court of Appeal handed Safe Food Matters a major win on February 2, 2022 when it ordered Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) to take another look at the group’s notice of objection to PMRA’s 2017 decision to re-register glyphosate in Canada.
The case, Safe Food Matters Inc. v. Canada (Attorney General), is the first decision of the Federal Court of Appeal on PMRA and on glyphosate, the most used and by-far most controversial pesticide in the world. It comes at a time when Europe is debating registration, and US legal cases on re-registration are in the works.
What is remarkable is the case (SFM Case) was taken and won by a tiny group with no financial backing, a lawyer with a conscience, GoFund Me supporters and others. Here’s the story of this small group.
THE STORY
In 2015, PMRA …Read More
Safe Food Matters Wins Glyphosate Court Case!
Back to the drawing board for PMRA to address the glyphosate objection
February 2, 2022. The Federal Court of Appeal has issued a decision in favour of Safe Food Matters in a court case concerning the pesticide glyphosate. The decision remits the matter back to the Pest Management Regulatory Agency for reconsideration, and offers strong guidance to PMRA to avoid “the endless merry-go-round” of court applications and reconsiderations.
In 2017, Safe Food Matters (and others) filed objections to PMRA’s decision RVD2017-01 to re-register glyphosate in Canada, and PMRA rejected the objections in 2019 with a form letter and dismissive reasons. Safe Food Matters filed in Federal Court, lost, then appealed. The win means a review panel could still be struck to review RVD2017-01 and recommend that it be confirmed, reversed or varied.
Mary Lou McDonald, LL.B., President of Safe Food Matters, commented:
When we started this case, we said ‘we believe in the …Read More
safe food matters appeals decision
Safe Food Matters Inc. is appealing the Federal Court judgement that allows the decision of Health Canada to renew glyphosate to stand. The appeal was filed on March 13 at the Federal Court of Appeal.
“We think the wrong legal test was applied in the case, and that the decision-making of Health Canada on the file was not reasonable,” said Mary Lou McDonald, President of Safe Food Matters.
The case goes back to 2017, when Health Canada re-registered glyphosate for use in Canada. Eight groups objected and asked for an independent review panel, and in 2019 Health Canada responded with no. SFM then applied in Federal Court for judicial review and asked again for the Minister of Health to consider establishing a review panel. The Federal Court on February 13 dismissed the application.
The appeal process has been initiated, and Safe Food Matters has again retained Andrea Gonsalves of Stockwoods LLP as …Read More
Federal Court releases its decision
Safe Food Matters (SFM) has received notice that the Federal Court will not direct that an independent review panel be struck to review glyphosate.
The Court was of the view that SFM needed to “challenge the science relied on by the PMRA in the Evaluations”. We respectfully disagree, and believe that our job was to raise a scientific doubt about the validity of the evaluations Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) conducted. A “valid evaluation” is one that is complete, transparent, current and free from bias and the appearance of conflict of interest.
We believe we did that, by showing that PMRA did not examine the mechanism in plants that allows higher levels of glyphosate to accumulate in the seeds of legumes and cereals when they are desiccated. As such, the evaluation was not complete, and Health Canada cannot with complete impunity say there is no “unacceptable risk” to human health.
The process has …Read More
Federal Court FOLLOW-UP
By Mary Lou McDonald, Safe Food Matters President
Safe Food Matters took action on Health Canada’s review of glyphosate because we believe in the law and our Court system. We think the law is on our side, and we don’t expect we will be disappointed. It was clear to all in attendance that Justice Sandra Simpson took these matters very seriously.
Hon. Simpson has a heavy burden, particularly in the current context where issues about desiccation with glyphosate and dietary exposure are coming under increasing scrutiny. Kellogg’s recently announced they are phasing out use as a “pre-harvest drying agent”, and the short-term EU renewal of glyphosate imposed strict limits on pre-harvest use. New hard science is coming out that it alters the microbiome of the human gut. And numerous class actions are being launched in Canada.
We believe we raised a scientific doubt about the validity of the glyphosate assessment of Health Canada’s …Read More
Court Date & Court Case
Court Date Jan 30 TO
Safe Food Matters has good news, on 2 fronts!
FIRST, we have a court date! It is January 30, 2020, at the Federal Court in Toronto: 180 Queen St. W., starting at 9:30. The public is allowed to attend, so please show up if you are so inclined! We are scheduled for the full day.
Andrea Gonsalves, our fantastic lawyer from Stockwoods LLP, will make her submissions first, then the Attorney General will present. Andrea will then reply. I can’t wait to see her in action! Again, a HUGE shout out to Andrea and Stockwoods for taking on and minimizing the fees on this case: VERY generous and very much appreciated.
SECOND, the Supreme Court of Canada on December 19 released the Vavilov decision, and we think it adds strength to the case we are making, which is that Health Canada did not act reasonably when it rejected our …Read More
Summary of Health Canada Court Case: Glyphosate
Hello! Here is a short summary of our Federal Court case.
Health Canada in April 2017 approved the registration for glyphosate use in Canada until 2032 or later.
Safe Food Matters and 7 other groups filed notices of objection in late June 2017.
In January 2019, Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) under Health Canada rejected all the objections.
SFM and our President, Mary Lou McDonald, decided to take the last legal step possible: asking the Federal Court to review the legal basis for the rejections.
Mary Lou is a retired lawyer. She drafted and filed the notice of application in February 2019.
But she is not a court lawyer, so we hired Andrea Gonsalves of Stockwoods LLP, a vegan who is passionate about the case. They have kindly agreed on a “not to exceed”.
The goal is an independent review of the basis for the registration of glyphosate, which could lead to a full or partial ban.
At …Read More
