SASKATOON – Furadan’s fate lies in the hands of a government agency.
While environmental groups are urging people to write to federal health minister Diane Marleau in support of a ban on the agricultural pesticide, a bureaucrat with the federal Pesticide Management Agency says Marleau’s approval won’t likely be necessary.
“The document will be final,” said agency worker Marie-Josee de Saint Victor about the decision it expects to make in January.
Carbofuran, the active ingredient in Furadan, has been under special review for a number of years. It is used in both liquid and granular forms for control of grasshoppers and for flea beetles in canola.
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Concern it harms wildlife
The World Wildlife Fund claims the pesticide seriously harms birds, including the endangered burrowing owl, when they ingest it.
Canola growers worry banning carbofuran will endanger their crops, since Furadan is one of only two pesticides for flea beetle control.
“Any time farmers lose tools, production tools, it’s a concern,” said Canola Council of Canada crop production co-ordinator Tony Zatylny.
“We need the tools we have today and until we have alternatives we can’t afford to lose any.”
While the federal agency has the power to completely ban carbofuran or re-approve it entirely, de Saint Victor said each of the forms and each of the uses of carbofuran will be separately evaluated.
“If the risks (of a particular application) are deemed unacceptable and they cannot be mitigated, then a regulatory action will be taken on that use,” she said.
The agency operates in the federal department of health. However, de Saint Victor said bureaucrats from the agriculture and environment departments were moved into health to work with the agency.
Formerly, all three departments were involved in the agency, but it has been fully moved into health to be more efficient, she said.
Zatylny said the canola council thinks the calls for bans on carbofuran are based on bad science.
