The Government of Canada is ensuring responsible pesticide management across the country and has taken a number of steps in the last year to increase the transparency and accessibility of decisions, including the launch of the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA)'s external Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) for pest control products (SAC-PCP). This is an ongoing transformation and the PMRA is committed to evaluating and adapting its approach throughout this process.

The PMRA has announced the appointment of a new co-chair to the SAC-PCP, Dr. Eric Liberda. Dr. Liberda is a Professor at the School of Occupational and Public Health at the Toronto Metropolitan University. His career focus has been on organic (pesticides) and metal contaminants and health outcomes, particularly in Indigenous populations. He will work with Dr. Valérie Langlois who has co-chaired the committee since its creation. Dr. Liberda replaces Dr. Lanphear who resigned from the committee and is thanked for his contributions.

PMRA will take this change in leadership as an opportunity to meet with the SAC-PCP as soon as possible to review the committee's Terms of Reference. PMRA has previously committed to consulting committee members on the scientific issues they would like to include on their forward agenda. This process will continue in order to ensure that PMRA is obtaining scientific advice on questions that are most important to both the committee members and the regulator.

The PMRA takes its role as a regulator seriously and the pesticide review process used by the PMRA remains fully rooted in science. Part of this means taking advice from various sources and committees, including the SAC-PCP and the Pest Management Advisory Council (PMAC).

In fall 2021, the PMRA established a transformation agenda that, among other initiatives, focuses on improving transparency for better public participation in pesticide decision-making. As part of its Transformation Agenda, PMRA is working to further strengthen the pesticide review process and its transparency, including via proposed amendments to the Pest Control Products Regulations, which were announced on June 20, 2023. The PMRA Transformation process overall is working to strengthen the oversight and protection of human health and the environment when it comes to pesticides.

 Source:  Health Canada July 18, 2023 statement