Health Canada intends to authorize the increase in the maximum limits of pesticide residues that can remain on certain foods, but affirms in the same breath that this decision does not mean that Canadians will be exposed to more pesticides.
During a technical briefing for the media on Tuesday, Health Canada officials announced that the government will “lift the pause on maximum residue limits (MRLs)” for pesticides, which had been decreed in 2021, after a lifting of shields.
Certain imported food products, but also food produced in the country, may therefore be authorized to contain more pesticide residues, if Health Canada “deems it safe”.
“The lifting of the pause is essential to ensure consumers have access to a wide variety of nutritious and safe foods and to provide Canadian producers with the tools necessary in the fight against emerging pests,” said a Health Canada official. .
“As food is now produced and traded internationally, lifting the pause is essential to facilitate trade,” added the federal agency employee.
Still according to Health Canada, this decision “does not mean that Canadians will necessarily be exposed to more pesticides”.
The agency argued that it uses “a very rigorous process to set the pesticide limit […] on food”.
Health Canada has clarified that the authorization to increase maximum pesticide residue limits does not, at least for the moment, concern glyphosate residues, which are found in particular in the herbicide Roundup.
During an afternoon press briefing, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos made these comments regarding a possible permission to increase glyphosate residues in food: “On glyphosate, there is three things that happen, the first is that 20,000 comments have been received [de citoyens canadiens] and they need to be studied, the second is that Health Canada is working with other similar agencies outside the country regarding its use, and the third is that the decision on glyphosate will not be announced until 2024”.
Federal officials did not provide examples of products that might be permitted to contain more MRLs.
However, Health Canada is already prepared to issue proposals for “pest control products that relate to a single use or a single crop”.
The Bloc asks the government to back down
The Bloc Québécois critic for agriculture, Yves Perron, reacted by inviting the government to “step back” and reduce the use of pesticides instead.
“Today’s announcement runs counter to efforts to reduce the use of pesticides in the agricultural world. We are entitled to worry about an upcoming increase in pesticide residues on food. As the planet moves toward new agricultural practices, the federal government is instead opening the door to more pesticides,” he wrote in a statement.
Health Canada had backtracked in 2021
In August 2021, the federal government raised an outcry when it considered authorizing the increase in residues of certain pesticides in several foodstuffs. He had finally backtracked and decided to put on hold the authorization to increase the maximum residue limits (MRLs) of pesticides.
Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) had suggested increasing the MRLs for glyphosate that can remain on certain foods like nuts and legumes.
The proposal stemmed from a request from Bayer, owner of Monsanto, producer of the Roundup herbicide containing glyphosate.
The PMRA was also studying a request from Syngenta to increase the presence of traces of pesticides on certain berries, information revealed by Radio−Canada.
The Order of Chemists of Quebec, the Association of Quebec Biologists, the Association of Microbiologists of Quebec, the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, but also several citizens and various non-governmental organizations reacted strongly to the proposal from Health Canada.
In the wake of the suspension of the intention to raise the MRL limit, the federal government announced new research on pest control, but also an online public consultation on pesticides. A scientific advisory committee on pest control products had also been created in January 2022.
On Tuesday, the government released a Notice of Intent “marking the start of consultations on proposed amendments to the Pest Control Products Regulations.”
During Tuesday’s technical briefing, the federal government also announced that it intends to ban the use of pesticides for aesthetic reasons on state-owned land.