Chemicals Management—Pesticides Safety and Accessibility
Opening Statement to the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry
Chemicals Management—Pesticides Safety and Accessibility
16 September 2014
Julie Gelfand
Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development
Mr. Chair, thank you for inviting us to appear before this Committee today. I am pleased to join you this afternoon to discuss our March 2008 report on Pesticides Safety and Accessibility. With me today is Andrew Ferguson.
Let me begin by giving you a brief overview of our mandate.
On behalf of the Auditor General of Canada, the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development provides parliamentarians with objective, independent analysis and recommendations on the federal government’s efforts to protect the environment and foster sustainable development. We carry out these responsibilities under several acts.
First, under the Auditor General Act, our Office conducts performance audits and monitors departmental progress on whether activities designed to respond to federal environment and sustainable development policies are being implemented effectively and are delivering results. We also manage the environmental petitions process that enables Canadians to obtain responses directly from federal ministers on specific environmental and sustainable development issues under federal jurisdiction.
Under the 2008 Federal Sustainable Development Act (C-474), our Office reviews and comments on the federal government’s sustainable development strategy. We also monitor and report on the extent to which federal departments contribute to meeting the targets and goals set out in the federal sustainable development strategy.
I would now like to turn to our Report on Pesticide Safety and Accessibility, which was presented in Parliament on March 6, 2008.
As you are well aware, pesticides play an important role in maintaining Canada’s food supply. However, many pesticides are designed to be toxic, and when used improperly, they can have serious consequences for human health and the environment. Adverse effects can range from respiratory tract problems to cancer or the death of fish or birds.
At the time of our audit, there were approximately 5,000 pesticides registered for use in Canada. From information recently provided to us by the Pest Management Regulatory we understand that there are now approximately 7,000 pesticides registered for use in Canada.
Our 2008 audit examined the progress made by the federal government in selected aspects of managing the safety and accessibility of pesticides since our previous audit in 2003. The objective of our audit was to determine whether the Agency was making satisfactory progress in
- systematically and consistently applying its evaluation and re-evaluation policies and procedures;
- providing timely access to new, possibly safer pesticides; and
- meeting its target for re-evaluating older pesticides.
We also examined whether the Canadian Food Inspection Agency had made satisfactory progress in increasing the number of active ingredients tested in fresh fruits and vegetables as part of its National Chemical Residue Monitoring Program.
In our 2008 audit, we concluded that the Pest Management Regulatory Agency had applied its procedures for evaluating new pesticides consistently, completely and with adequate documentation. It ensured that companies applying to register a new pesticide submitted all the information needed, at the required standard of quality, to assess the risks associated with the pesticide.
Mr. Chair, I understand that the Committee is interested in my perspective on the length of temporary registrations of pesticides. For this, a little context may be helpful. In our 2008 audit, the Agency explained that during the evaluation of a pesticide, the Pest Management Regulatory Agency may conclude that additional information is required to confirm the results of its risk assessment. The Agency may grant a conditional registration that imposes additional safety measures to allow temporary use of the pesticide pending receipt of the additional information from the registrant. During the time that a pesticide is “conditional”, the registrant is expected to complete and submit the information that is required to confirm the Agency’s assessment of risk.
Permission to use the pesticide is temporary; full registration is granted only when the required information has been submitted to the Agency and the Agency has reviewed and accepted it.
When the Agency grants a conditional registration for a pesticide, it issues special notices. These notices spell out the additional information required. For example, the Agency has called for additional scientific information from the registrant for the fungicide Quintec, which now has a conditional registration. According to the special notice, the Agency requested additional data to address, among other things, “uncertainties with regard to the chronic risk of the fungicide to aquatic organisms.” Acute toxicity studies have been requested by the Agency for bees and predators for example. The special notices can be reviewed on the PMRA website.
In our 2008 audit, we found that 13% of new pesticides registered in the 2006–07 fiscal year were conditional. We also found nine pesticides that had temporary registrations with a 10- to 20-year duration. We indicated in our report that this length of time cannot be considered temporary. Our concern at the time of our audit was that the Agency was not receiving timely information on these pesticides, which was required to confirm its assessment of risk to human health and the environment. The Agency indicated that it would monitor and use its authority under the Pest Control Products Act to limit the length of conditional registrations.
We have not re-audited this question to determine the current status of conditional registrations.
However, information recently provided to us by the Agency indicates that there are 7,011 pesticide products currently registered for use in Canada, 88 of which have been granted conditional registration. Of these, 28 have been conditionally registered for more than 5 years, and 8 of them for more than 10 years.
In my view, the key concern is that some pesticides are in temporary use for prolonged periods of time pending receipt of information considered necessary by the Pest Management Agency to confirm that they do not pose unacceptable risks to human health or the environment. Furthermore, during this time, new products containing the same active ingredient can be introduced into the marketplace thereby expanding the use and reliance on products with conditional registrations.
In closing, the government has an important role to play in protecting the environment and the health of Canadians, and in moving toward sustainable development. Our Office is keenly interested in improving accountability by informing Parliament and Canadians on the quality of the government’s management of environmental issues, and making recommendations for improvement. In our 2008 report, we said that more work needs to be done by the Agency to reduce the number and length of conditional registrations. We noted that a similar recommendation was made by this Committee in its June 2014 report on Agriculture and Innovation [rec 4 page 38].
Honourable Senators, this concludes my opening statement. We would be pleased to answer any questions the Committee may have.