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
Kids, Candy, and Scary Stuff
Some of the fun things about Hallowe’en are the kids, the costumes, and the candy. We have some scary news about the candy.
Health Canada wants to up the levels of pesticides allowed in sugar. Big time. It has proposed to increase allowable levels of two pesticides used on sugar beets – by 200 fold and 10 fold:
Azoxystrobin (AZ) – from 0.5 to 5 ppm (10x)
Fludioxonil (FL) – from 0.02 to 4 ppm (200x)
Why? So Canada’s levels will match the US levels.
You may recall in 2021 there was a “pause” put on maximum residue limits (MRLs) because of proposed glyphosate (Roundup) increases. In June, 2023 Health Canada lifted the “pause”, and these two chemicals, combined in a Syngenta product, are the first up. Syngenta made the request.
The problem isn’t just the increases. It’s the lack of scientific backup. The scientific methodology is completely flawed, as stated in the assessment, …Read More
We Are Making A Difference on Pesticides
We are Safe Food Matters Inc., and we’re making a difference on pesticides. Our highlights from 2022 include: winning on glyphosate in Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal; obtaining Monsanto confidential test data on glyphosate MRLs; becoming a charity; and suing Health Canada for rejecting public participation in pesticide decision-making.
We hope you’ll consider making a charitable donation to us, because we ARE making a difference. You can donate here.
Federal Court of Appeal: Glyphosate
In February, 2022, we won our case on glyphosate in Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal. The Court ordered Health Canada’s PMRA to look at our objections to the 2017 registration of glyphosate for a second time.
We think our win was a big deal, because the Court set out “Guidance” on how regulators like the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) need to behave when dealing with members of the public who get involved. When making decisions, PMRA needs to show …Read More
Lawsuit slams lack of transparency in Health Canada’s management of chlorpyrifos
PMRA sticks to three-year phaseout despite evidence chlorpyrifos causes brain damage in children
OTTAWA/TRADITIONAL, UNCEDED TERRITORY OF THE ALGONQUIN ANISHNAABEG PEOPLE —
Ecojustice, on behalf of Safe Food Matters and Prevent Cancer Now, is headed to court to fight for greater transparency, consistency, and accountability in how Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) makes decisions regarding harmful chemicals that impact the health of Canadians.
In a lawsuit filed on Thursday, the groups challenge the PMRA’s Second Phaseout Decision regarding the dangerous pesticide chlorpyrifos. This decision maintains the three-year phaseout period set out in a previous decision from the PMRA, also being challenged by the groups in court. By maintaining the three-year phaseout, chlorpyrifos pest control products will continue to be used, including on food, until December 2023.
Health Canada first cancelled all uses of chlorpyrifos in May 2021 with a three-year phaseout, due to a failure of registrants to provide essential human health …Read More
