Members of the House of Commons health committee face a dilemma as they
try to wind down hearings and write a report on Canada’s proposed new
pesticides law.
Two distinct visions of appropriate pesticide rules have emerged from
the hearings. There is just a sliver of common ground.
Farm leaders and chemical manufacturers have pleaded for changes that
would ensure farmers are not denied access to pesticides they need.
They have urged that older and more toxic chemicals should not be taken
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off the market before more benign alternatives are available. And they
have argued farmers should have access to a wider array of chemicals so
they can compete with American farmers and their crop protection
arsenal.
Environmentalists have urged MPs to recommend tighter rules on
registration and a more aggressive policy of removing potentially
dangerous chemicals from the market.
An array of witnesses also has demanded that the legislation be amended
to ban cosmetic use of pesticides in urban areas.
“Pesticides are poisons meant to kill and they shouldn’t be near people
that might be affected by them,” Ottawa city councillor Alex Cullen
told the committee recently.
He said if Parliament Hill is a pesticide-free zone, so should the
nation’s city neighbourhoods.
The sliver of common ground is that both environmentalists and farmers
want the government and the Pest Management Regulatory Agency to make
more resources available to speed review and approval of
environmentally benign products.
The committee has set a deadline of May 24 to send a report to the
Commons.
If the bill is to become law before Parliament adjourns for the summer,
which will be no later than June 21, it will have to get through final
debate in the Commons and the Senate after the Commons receives the
committee report.
