Saskatchewan Eco Network • Action

Protect The Pesticide Code Of Quebec

Urgent Action Required From The Rest Of Canada

On Monday, February 21, 2005, the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) made an interim announcement which stated that the pesticide 2,4-D can be used safely on lawns and turf when label directions are followed. The PMRA is a federal regulatory body responsible for the regulation of pesticides in Canada within Health Canada.

However, 2,4-D is one of the 22 pesticide active ingredients to be banned from use on all green spaces across the Province of Quebec.

Please write to the Minister of Environment, Quebec, and applaud his determination in upholding the Pesticide Code of Quebec. Encourage him to retain 2,4-D on the list of products to be banned in Quebec, for the following reasons:

• The reason that 2,4-D was put on the Quebec list in the first place, is because it was found to be a risk under the International Agency for Research on Cancer. The new PMRA decision did not conclude that 2,4-D is not a carcinogen. Child cancer merited more study, but this was considered too difficult. Animal studies were used. There is significant doubt, and the Precautionary Principle should prevail.
• The PMRA has stated that 2,4-D is 'safe' IF 'label directions are followed'. This means that we and our children are at risk of harm when label directions are not followed. It is impossible to monitor every usage across Canada. The Precautionary Principle would dictate that 2,4-D not be used. We have already seen that most professional applicators do not protect themselves adequately while applying pesticides on lawns.
• In Canada, it is illegal to advertise that a pesticide is 'safe'.
• In the manufacture of 2,4-D, dioxins are formed. Dioxins are persistent, bioaccumulative and carcinogenic. They harm neurological development, impair reproduction, disrupt the endocrine system and alter immune function.
• The PMRA relies on the manufacturer's testing of 2,4-D to monitor dioxins, however since 1983 no such monitoring has been carried out and the recent announcement stated that required dioxin data had not yet been provided by the industry.
• No testing is carried out for herbicide related dioxins in sediments in waterways adjacent to 2,4-D use.
• According to Canada's Environmental Protection Act, dioxins are targeted for virtual elimination.
• The stink that emanates from storage or use of lawn pesticides is the smell of the first break-down product, which is very toxic. This chemical: 2,4-dichlorophenol, is not even mentioned in the review of 2,4-D.
• Important gaps in relevant information exist, for example, reproduction and neurotoxicity studies required by the PMRA were not submitted, and cancer in children merited study but will not be considered.
• 2,4-D has been found in blood and semen.2,4-D and has been linked to neurological impairment and to reproductive risk.
• From an environmental point of view, the use of 2,4-D on lawns is an ecological aberration because it favours monocultures which are very vulnerable to insect infestations.

• Action Index

• Find your representative

• Write a letter to the editor

• Alerts Archives

Saskatchewan Eco-Network | 535 8th Street East | Saskatoon SK S7H 0P9
(306) 652-1275 | info@econet.ca