The arrest of 17 Toronto men charged with terrorism-related offences will likely expedite proposed new regulations governing the sale of ammonium nitrate fertilizer.
“I would think it will have a little higher profile than a week ago,” said Chris Watson, chief inspector of explosives with Natural Resources Canada.
Watson said the file will move to the top of the stack on the desk of Gary Lunn, Natural Resources’ minister, after a group of suspected southern Ontario terrorists were arrested by the RCMP after placing an order for three tonnes of the granular nitrogen fertilizer.
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The proposed legislation applies to manufacturers, distributors and retailers of fertilizer products and is expected to have no impact on farmers.
“There is no regulation or no intent to regulate the end user so the effect on the farmer is nothing,” said Watson.
Ammonium nitrate is a specialized nitrogen fertilizer used by commercial greenhouses, orchards and fruit and vegetable farms, primarily located in Eastern Canada.
Farmers buy about 150,000 tonnes of the fertilizer a year, which represents five percent of annual nitrogen fertilizer sales in Canada.
Little of that is sold as pure ammonium nitrate, the type security experts are concerned about. More often it is blended with two other fertilizer salts before it is sold to customers.
Pure ammonium nitrate (34-0-0) is the cream of the crop of nine chemicals that can be used to make household explosive devices.
“Ammonium nitrate is really the product of choice for terrorists,” said David Finlayson, vice-president of science and risk management at the Canadian Fertilizer Institute.
It is a strong oxidizing agent that, when mixed with other ingredients like fuel oil, can create the type of explosive used in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City.
“Other fertilizers do not have these physical properties,” said Finlayson.
Despite its inherent dangers, ammonium nitrate continues to be sold to farmers in Canada.
“Farmers are asking for it, they’re demanding it. It’s the best product for them to grow food,” he said.
But steps have been taken to protect the public. Shortly after the Oklahoma incident, the Canadian Fertilizer Institute adopted security measures to prevent ammonium nitrate from becoming the means for a terrorism attack in this country.
Those steps resulted in the drafting of an ammonium nitrate code of practice document, which provides fertilizer retailers with a list of red flags to watch for when selling the potentially dangerous chemical.
Retailers are to be on the lookout for unfamiliar customers, people requesting unusual amounts of the product, needs that are inconsistent with local soil conditions or cropping practices and other oddities.
They have been provided with a toll-free telephone number to contact the RCMP in case of a suspicious incident.
Little is known about how the 17 alleged Toronto terrorists ended up with three tonnes of ammonium nitrate. Newspapers have suggested delivery of the product was controlled by the RCMP, who switched it with a benign substance before it was passed on to the suspects.
Finlayson wouldn’t comment on the specific case but he said under normal circumstances the industry’s safeguards would have identified this as a suspicious sale.
“Consistent with our guidelines, that would have set off alarm bells.”
Those voluntary regulations will become mandatory if the federal government adopts the proposed regulations governing the nine explosive precursors, which he feels is much more likely to happen since the Toronto incident.
“Those guidelines will be enshrined in regulations this year,” said Finlayson.
