Farm groups say pesticide harmonization between Canada and the United States is finally getting fast-tracked.
In December, Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper and U.S. president Barack Obama agreed to implement two action plans designed to speed up trade and travel and improve border security between the two countries.
The plan on regulatory co-operation includes an initiative to create a regulatory environment that allows for simultaneous submission and joint review of pesticide applications.
The goal is to promote equal access to crop protection products for farmers on both sides of the border and to minimize differences in maximum pesticide residue limits to prevent potential trade disruptions.
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Ron Bonnett, president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, said his initial reaction to the plan was that he has heard it all before.
However, his attitude changed after travelling to Washington, D.C., to hear first-hand what the Canada-U.S. Regulatory Co-operation Council had to say.
“They are actually developing very detailed work plans with specific outcomes and timelines and everything,” said Bonnett.
“The mood there was very much, ‘OK, we’ve played around with this thing too long. It has got to be done.’ The word has come from up top that this is a priority and they seem to be moving very, very quickly with it.”
The council is contemplating a two-year timeline to get a harmonization process in place. It has also committed to providing progress reports to stakeholders such as the CFA every six months.
Gordon Bacon, chief executive officer of Pulse Canada, said considerable progress has already been made on harmonization, starting with the first NAFTA labels in 2007. That effort has morphed into a global joint review process for some products.
“It has been an enormous success and we give the PMRA (Pest Management Regulatory Agency) a lot of credit for the outcomes,” he said.
“Our assessment has been that we have got access to a lot more chemicals more quickly.”
However, he said more work remains to be done and the regulatory co-operation plan is a good forum to accomplish that.
Bacon would like to see more streamlining of the registration process.
“Does each country need to enter all of the tombstone data that is part of a registration or can one country (do it) and (then) they both work from the same set of data?” he said.
He would also like to see the two countries use the forum to work together to encourage groups such as CODEX to update their out-of-touch maximum residue limits (MRLs) for pesticide products.
“We’ve put a turbo charger on the registration of chemicals, and we’re still dealing with a 1962 Dodge three-on-the-tree when it comes to setting the international standards,” said Bacon.
