The announcement marks a dramatic shift in the government’s approach: In a 2018 scientific review, the PMRA recommended the chemicals be banned to protect aquatic insects and their ecosystems. The agency delayed its final decisions on the chemicals for two years while considering additional data on toxicity and insects’ level of exposure in natural environments. “It is surprising and disappointing,” said Lisa Gue, senior policy adviser for the David Suzuki Foundation. The organization is among a handful who slammed the decisions when they were announced last week. “The decision . is simply not a credible response to the risks identified.” In its final decisions, the agency said risks to aquatic insects will be adequately mitigated by reducing application rates and banning their use in a few specific cases. Most uses of the pesticides will be allowed to continue, however. The decisions also required the application rates listed on the product labels to be reduced wi
Marc Fawcett-Atkinson, Local Journalism Initiative
The federal government last week announced that it will not ban a class of pesticides known to harm bees, aquatic insects, and the ecosystems that depend on them.
Image Credit: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/Todd Huffman April 08, 2021 - 8:00 PM Pesticides harmful to bees, water bugs, and other insects will continue to be allowed for use on Canadian fields and lawns. Decisions published last week by Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) will allow the continued widespread use of two insecticides. The chemicals, colloquially called neonics, are known to harm pollinators, aquatic insects, and ecosystems they support.
Pesticides harmful to bees, water bugs, and other insects will continue to be allowed for use on Canadian fields and lawns.
Decisions published last week by Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) will allow the continued widespread use of two insecticides. The chemicals, colloquially called neonics, are known to harm pollinators, aquatic insects, and ecosystems they support.
The announcement marks a dramatic shift in the government’s approach: In a 2018 scientific review, the PMRA recommended the chemicals be banned to protect aquatic insects and their ecosystems.
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Aquaculture companies have won a court victory that appears to overturn aspects of a recent federal government decision to phase out contentious fish farms in the Discovery Islands.
A Federal Court judge has ruled in favour of Mowi Canada West and Saltstream a small aquaculture company which challenged Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan’s policy decision to ban the restocking of pen sites in the region ahead of the June 2022 fish farm phaseout.
The court injunction should allow Mowi to transfer 1.2 million Atlantic salmon smolts to its Phillips Arm and Hardwicke farm sites in the waters near Campbell River on Vancouver Island, said Dean Dobrinsky, human resources director for Mowi. Saltstream aims to transfer 10,000 chinook salmon to its Doctor Bay site in the region.
NOW Magazine
How protecting the planet can prevent pandemics
A coalition of health organizations will propose and finance new measures, such as cutting-edge behaviour change approaches By David Suzuki
Somrerk Kosolwitthayanant / iStock / Getty Images Plus
With COVID-19 vaccines becoming more available, we can breathe a small sigh of relief – through our masks! But we can’t get complacent. This pandemic isn’t over. And if we’re not careful, others could be on the horizon.
A coalition of health and conservation organizations is trying to prevent that. It points to evidence that “increasing rates of deforestation and land-use change due to population growth and urbanization – coupled with growing globalization and excess production driven by consumerism” are increasing our vulnerability to “zoonotic” diseases, which spread from other animals to people.