News release
PESTICIDE INITIATIVE AIMS TO REDUCE RISKS, ENHANCE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
OTTAWA, May 23, 2002 - Canadian farmers, processors and consumers will benefit from a Government of Canada plan designed to increase the availability of reduced-risk pesticides.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Lyle Vanclief and Health Minister Anne McLellan today outlined the major new initiative, totalling $7.3 million in new funding, aimed at reducing the risks of pesticides, introducing safer products and improving the competitiveness of producers.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) will use $3.3 million to work with industry and the provinces to increase the availability of reduced-risk and more environmentally friendly pesticides for Canadian farmers, which will help improve their competitiveness internationally.
Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) is allotting $4 million to the initiative and will be developing and implementing strategies for reducing risks to both health and the environment and encouraging reduction in the use of pesticides. The PMRA is also introducing a program to make reduced-risk products, including ‘minor use' products, available for essential uses.
‘Minor use' pesticide products are those used in such small quantities that manufacturers find the sales potential is not sufficient to seek a registration in Canada.
"The health and safety of Canadians, our food and our environment, as well as the efficiency of the producers, are of the utmost importance," Mr. Vanclief said. "This initiative will ensure that Canadian producers have access to environmentally sound technologies for pest control. At the same time, it will allow for better coordination of pesticide initiatives and research in Canada."
AAFC will have the capability to coordinate and prioritize activities on reduced-risk and ‘minor use' pesticides with the cooperative efforts of governments, manufacturers and growers alike. The success of the new plan will be achieved through collaboration among all groups and the establishment of a governing body to oversee its efforts.
"These efforts to reduce risks and enhance environmental sustainability complement the proposed new Pest Control Products Act, currently before Parliament," Minister McLellan said. "Ensuring a safe and dependable food supply and lowering the risks from pesticides are important in maintaining Canadians' health and protecting their environment."
The Chair of the Prime Minister's Task Force on the Future of Farming, Bob Speller, MP for Haldimand-Norfolk-Brant, says he's pleased with today's announcement as a response to recommendations contained in the Task Force's interim report. "These measures recognize the needs of primary producers and will go far in addressing the competitive gaps faced by producers in obtaining minor use products," he said.
"Sustainability is a key word for Canadian farmers today - environmental, economic and social sustainability," said Bob Friesen, President of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture. "This initiative is an important step towards ensuring Canadian producers can remain competitive by having access to the tools they need to produce the best, safest, and most environmentally friendly food in the world."
"The initiatives and allocation of resources announced today will address many of our concerns and recommendations," Canadian Horticultural Council President Ken Forth noted. "Reduced risk, access to new technologies, research and a coordination of efforts will enhance our ability to compete and meet consumer expectations. A team approach is required and we look forward to working with the ministries to achieve our goals. There is a lot of work to do and we are anxious to get started."
In addition, Mr. Vanclief announced the doubling of the current allotment of resources within AAFC's Research Branch to the equivalent of $2 million for data generation on ‘minor use' pesticides. This data generation, coupled with the new investment, will be used to develop the submissions required to register ‘minor use' pesticides with PMRA. PMRA is also doubling its resources for evaluating ‘minor use' submissions.
Mr. Vanclief is also making available $1 million of Canadian Adaptation and Rural Development (CARD) funding for 2002 to facilitate the introduction of the new initiatives and to assist farm and commodity groups in contributing to their development and implementation.
A full-time Minor Use Advisor (Ombudsman) will be appointed to work in PMRA to liaise with grower organizations, provinces, registrants and AAFC to ensure that priorities for submissions are identified, appropriate data is generated by AAFC and the reviews of the submissions are expedited.
"Farmers have identified registration of pesticides for minor use as a major concern," said MP Murray Calder. "This is a positive first step to address that problem. I'm hopeful this will be beneficial for farmers."
"The funding will help the Pest Management Regulatory Agency ensure that minor use pesticides become more readily available in a timely manner," said Rose-Marie Ur, MP for Lambton-Kent-Middlesex. "Improving the minor use program will give farmers throughout Canada greater access to minor use products, which will help to level the playing field and compete in the global markets."
Reducing the risks from the use of pesticides is an important aspect of the Agricultural Policy Framework (APF), agreed to in principle by all Canadian agriculture ministers last year. The APF aims to brand Canada as the world leader in food safety, innovation and environmentally responsible production.
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For more information, media may contact:
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Media Relations Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Ottawa (613) 759-7972 |
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Marc Richard Pest Management Regulatory Agency Ottawa (613) 736-3573 |
Reducing the Risk from Pesticides
Backgrounder
- AAFC and PMRA will work closely together to improve the availability of safe, environmentally friendly pest control products. AAFC will create a central coordination body to:
- develop protocols for field trials and residue analyses,
- conduct data generation trials, and
- prepare registration submissions.
- A governance structure will be established to make sure key stakeholders can provide advice on the management of this initiative.
- The development and use of crop profiles will be a key feature of the AAFC approach. Crop profiles give a complete pest management story for a specific crop by documenting the range of pests, chemical controls available, pesticide usage data, cultural practices and new advancements.
- These crop profiles will provide the baseline information needed to help prioritize pest control needs, and develop risk reduction strategies for commodities. They may also have some valuable linkages to other initiatives related to environmental farm plans and food safety.
- AAFC activities will be linked with those of the U.S., and this is expected to result in a reduction in the time it takes for Canadian growers to obtain access to both new pesticides and new uses for existing ones.
- AAFC will continue its work to help reduce pesticide use by conducting research and encouraging the adoption of integrated pest management practices that control pests using a combination of techniques such as crop rotations, cultivation and biological and chemical pest controls.
- PMRA is introducing a program to make reduced-risk products available for essential uses. This program for submissions made in Canada will be an extension of the joint review program for reduced-risk pesticides that is already in place between the PMRA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's support for ‘minor use' pesticides
Backgrounder
- Where crop production consists of small acreages of diverse crops, Canadian growers have limited availability of the pesticides needed to manage pest problems. This affects their international competitiveness.
- It is expected that this $2 million support for data generation by AAFC will contribute significantly to improving the number of new registered uses of minor use and reduced risk pesticides, and that AAFC will be able to double the number of annual submissions for registration to the PMRA.
- AAFC's Research Branch has a small minor use program which generates data for minor use pesticides and will expand its data generation capacity at six sites across Canada. These sites will be chosen in order to reflect the regional distribution of the main crop groups and climate zones.
- Trials will be coordinated across Canada and crop grouping provisions will be utilized to improve field testing efficiency and maximize the number of crops covered in a registration submission. The data generated will be used in pesticide registration submissions prepared by AAFC, and made to PMRA.
- Priorities for data generation will be established in consultation with growers, pesticide manufacturers and provincial governments.
- The new initiative will improve the availability of minor use and reduced-risk pesticides. This will allow Canadian growers, particularly the horticultural sector, to be in a better competitive position with U.S. growers, who have access to many more registered pesticides - especially products that are safer and more environmentally friendly.
Health Canada's support for ‘minor use' pesticides
- Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) is providing additional support to its existing Minor Use Programs in order to facilitate growers' access to new reduced-risk minor uses.
- The PMRA will double the amount of resources available for minor use review. This will ensure that when Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) generate the data and propose submissions for minor use registrations, sufficient PMRA staff will be available to ensure that the minor use review timeline (six months) is met.
- A full-time Minor Use Advisor (Ombudsman) modelled after the position in the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be appointed to work closely with grower organizations, provinces, registrants and AAFC, to ensure that priorities for submissions for reduced risk minor use pesticides are identified, that the appropriate data are generated and the reviews of the submissions are expedited. The Minor Use Advisor will also maintain a close liaison with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Interregional Project Number 4 (IR-4) to ensure maximum use of available data is made.
- Minor use registrations are currently being handled by PMRA through a cooperative program, the User Requested Minor Use Label Expansion (URMULE). Involving the participation of sponsor groups, provincial/forestry minor use coordinators, provincial/federal government agencies and registrants, the URMULE program allows users to encourage pesticide registrants to support the approval of an additional minor use of an already registered product (i.e., a use on a crop or pest not covered by existing registrations).
- The development of crop profiles will provide an important tool for assessing a commodity's pest control needs and establishing a risk reduction plan. Such plans will include identifying the need for new products, assessing the impact of removing products and determining what steps can be taken to make production of a commodity more sustainable.
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