This month the government proposed changes to the Pest Control Products Act (PCPA), which regulates the way pesticides are used in Canada based on their health and environmental impacts. 

But these changes are buried inside omnibus budget bill C-30, which bypassed traditional oversight and was pushed through the House of Commons with only three hours of debate and passed the House of Commons and Senate last week. Neither Health Canada's Science Advisory Group on Pesticide Regulation nor the Pest Management Advisory Committee were asked to review these proposals before they were embedded in budget legislation. 

Are we really ready to accept the risk of more miscarriages, rising neurological disease, contaminated ecosystems and weaker protections for children, workers and Indigenous peoples? And to have these decisions be based on financial rather than health and environmental concerns? If not, then the proposed changes to Canada’s pesticide law need to be rejected.  

As physicians and public health advocates, we know prevention is the most effective and least expensive way to improve the health of the public. Once exposure to toxic pollutants occurs (whether to air pollution, PFAS, or pesticides), the damage can persist for years, even........

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