Fruit and vegetable growers should be aware of proposed changes to the Pest Control Products Regulations as these changes divert from the important core work of the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) and could ultimately impact growers’ ability to access crop protection products. 

Health Canada’s PMRA recently announced consultations on proposed amendments to the pest control regulations. The proposed amendments are an unnecessary distraction from the core scientific work of Canada’s pesticide regulator without any benefit to Canadian growers. These changes are being promoted as increasing transparency and sustainability but will in fact increase regulatory burdens and slow down decision making while not actually having the desired impact. 

This follows a concerning trend over the last number of years where we’ve seen the PMRA diverting efforts away from scientific evaluations toward bureaucratic processes and initiatives that needlessly add red tape to the regulatory process.

Canada has one of the most rigorous pesticide regulatory systems in the world when it comes to human and environmental protection, and the PMRA already has full authority to bolster these already robust protections under existing legislation. 

The efforts being put into the proposed regulatory changes are draining the agency’s already stretched resources, and if implemented, could have negative unintended consequences. We’ve already seen many of the agency’s scientific experts drawn away from their core scientific work in recent years, which has resulted in a worrying drop in the PMRA’s performance standards.  

Of concern there is also no long-term, sustainable funding strategy to support the important and growing work of reviewing and approving pesticides in Canada. To bridge the financial gap, the PMRA has come out with a punitive cost recovery proposal that would see registrants pay a fee increase of 256 per cent for maintaining existing pesticide registrations. This would put Canada well out of step with the U.S. and will be a significant disincentive for companies to invest in Canada, which could ultimately limit the tools available for Canadian fruit and vegetable growers.  

If the PMRA were to re-focus its efforts on its core science work and streamlining regulatory processes with a view to the needs of growers and the entire agriculture sector, they would not need to pursue such dramatic and damaging approaches to recuperating funds. 

The stakes are high: growers are facing new and changing pest pressures relentlessly and if they are going to continue to sustainably grow food for Canadians and the world they are going to need timely access to new innovations.

I encourage readers to learn more about the consultations, reach out to your associations and let your local elected officials know if you have concerns. 

Sidebar:  How we got here 

The Pest Management Regulatory Agency is conducting a 70-day consultation that ends August 24, 2024. It is responding to a What We Heard report, which documented concerns related to the operation of the pesticide evaluation system in Canada and its transparency:

• -  The current process to access and inspect confidential test data (CTD) used to support pesticide registration decisions or proposed decisions, is perceived to be cumbersome, a barrier to public participation, and leads to decreased trust in Canada’s pesticide regulatory system.

• -  Stakeholders have expressed concern regarding a lack of transparency and communication in the PMRA’s decision-making process regarding the establishment of maximum residue limits (MRLs) for pesticides.

• -  Stakeholders raised that risk assessments should be required to fully examine the impact of pest control products on Canada’s at-risk species and to conserve and protect our biodiversity, and that environmental risk assessments should be strengthened with regard to the consideration of cumulative effects on the environment (CEE) and species at risk (SAR).

Health Canada determined that these concerns could be addressed through existing policy and regulatory channels and that amendments to the PCPA were not needed at this time. The PMRA is proposing amendments to the Pest Control Products Regulations (PCPR) to address these issues.

Source:  Canada Gazette, Part 1, Volume 158, Number 24.