CropLife Canada, representing Canada’s agricultural chemical manufacturers, is furiously fighting Ontario proposals to ban cosmetic use of pesticides and herbicides.
In early November, the Ontario environment ministry published proposed regulations designed to implement legislation approved by the legislature in June.
Last week, chemical industry leaders complained that the regulations offer no scientific basis for the chemical use ban, no proof that the practices are harmful and no clarity about what the rules will be.
“We are saddened, dismayed and frankly completely disgusted,” CropLife Canada president Lorne Hepworth said Dec. 3 during CropLife’s annual meeting in Ottawa. “What the government has done is arbitrarily decided what is cosmetic and what is not.”
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He said the regulations should be withdrawn and reworked in consultation with the industry, scientists and health professionals with expertise on the issue of chemical toxicity and safe levels of exposure.
Hepworth said the uncertainty created by the proposed regulations would discourage companies from investing in development of new, more environmentally friendly products.
“The Ontario government is closing the door on innovation,” he said.
The former Saskatchewan agriculture minister said the government’s proposals also must be opposed because they could have implications for agriculture.
“It is about ensuring this isn’t the beginning of a slippery slope,” he said. “This calls into question the Health Canada safety and regulatory regime that is admired around the world.”
The government policy follows a promise by premier Dalton McGuinty during the last provincial election campaign that he would implement a ban on cosmetic use of chemicals with some exceptions, including golf courses.
The environment ministry said when explaining its regulatory proposals, “the government has listened to medical experts like the Canadian Cancer Society, who have made a convincing case for reducing our exposure to pesticides, particularly children who are generally more susceptible to the potential toxic effects of pesticides.”
The cancer society also has started to look at whether to call for chemical restrictions on farm use.
The Ontario government notes that 34 municipalities containing 47 percent of the provincial population have banned or restricted cosmetic pesticide use.
“A provincial law would create a consistent level of protection for all Ontario residents, rural or urban.”
The chemical industry has some influential friends in its fight against the proposed rules.
Former federal Liberal agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief has met with provincial Liberal environment minister John Gerretsen to argue that the proposed rules are not based on scientific evidence of toxicity and harm and will create confusion.
Vanclief said last week he argued that by making these proposals, the Ontario government is challenging the expertise of the Pest Management Regulatory Agency, Health Canada and the World Health Organization, all of whom say use of pesticides under strict rules and conditions carries an acceptable risk.
He said the provincial minister was unmoved.
During the CropLife conference, Saskatchewan deputy agriculture minister Alanna Koch also touched on the cosmetic pesticide use issue.
She said while Ontario and Alberta want to ban it, Saskatchewan does not.
“We have to avoid a hodgepodge approach to this issue across the country,” she said.
