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Call To Action - new Federal Pest Control Products Act (PCPA) (Bill C-53)
******** Take Action ********
Short of time? then look at just the Intro + Sample letter
(but more key details are below that).
On Monday, April 15, 2002, Bill C-53 was referred to the Health Committee.
When a government bill is tabled by a Minister and the House of Commons
sends it to committee, amendments can be made. As of April 29 they are
still receiving submissions (but the government appears to be trying to rush
the bill through Parliament).
Now is the time to push for a moratorium on the cosmetic use of pesticides
to be included in the bill. In this first call to action we are asking you
please to write Bonnie Brown MP, Chair of the Health committee (see sample
letter below) and copy your letter to the Health Minister Anne McLellan and
your MP. We need amendments to protect the health and safety of ALL
Canadians according to the Minister's mandate in Canada's Health Act.
The Health Minister is still putting the onus on municipalities to ban
pesticides when protecting health is in fact the responsibility of the
Federal Government [under the Health Protection Branch (HPB)]. The Minister
has the power to end cosmetic use of synthetic pesticides. (Parameters of
pesticide use are determined by the PCPA.)
It is important that we give a strong push for a moratorium on the
cosmetic use of synthetic pesticides throughout Canada. The examples have
already been set in Sweden, Denmark and Germany. Why not Canada?
=====================================================
******** Sample Letter: Please adapt and personalize this ********
April 24, 2002
Bonnie Brown MP
Chair, Standing Committee on Health
House of Commons
Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0A6
Dear Health Committee Chair:
I have some very serious concerns with the proposed Bill C-53 (Pest
Control Products Act) and wish to offer improvements and amendments
to be included for 3rd reading.
Based on the mandate of Bill C-53 (Section 4 [1]) where it states
that "in the administration of this Act, the Minister's primary
objective is to prevent unacceptable risks to people and the
environment from the USE of pest control products" (my emphasis) and
based on Health Minister's obligations under the Canada Health Act,
I urge you to make the following amendments to Bill C-53:
1) enshrine the precautionary principle as a basic tenant of Bill C-53;
2) include an immediate moratorium on the cosmetic use of chemical
pesticides until such time as their use has been scientifically proven to be
safe,
and the long-term consequences of their application are known;
3) place a priority on the use and promotion of ecological
(non-synthetic, natural) alternatives to chemical pesticides in the Bill.
Please write me back with the commitment that these measures will be
included in the amendments to Bill C-53. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
(put your name, postal address and email address here
C.c. Honourable Anne McLellan, Minister of Health
Your Local MP
============================================================
******** Write/E-mail/Fax/Call ********
1) Bonnie Brown MP
Chair, Standing Committee on Health
Tel: (613) 995-4014
Fax: (613) 992-0520
Email:Brown.B@parl.gc.ca
send copy to: Gary S. Sokolyk, Clerk of the Standing Committee on Health
Tel: (613) 996-1483
Fax: (613) 947-9670
E-mail: heal@parl.gc.ca
2) Copy to Honourable Anne McLellan, Minister of Health
Tel: (613) 957-0200
Tel: (613) 992-4524
Fax: (613) 952-1124
Fax: (613) 996-4516
Email: McLellan.A@parl.gc.ca
Minister of Health
House of Commons
Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0A6
3) Copy to your local member of Parliament
To get information on your or other Canadian MPs
Go to http://www.canada.gc.ca/directories/direct_e.html
Once onto the site, double click on the line you want. i.e., if you
know the name of your MP or if you do not. When the MP names come
up, double click on the name you want. A picture of the MP and all
contact info will come up on the individual MP, i.e. e-mail, fax,
regular mail addresses"
For those who have MPs on the Health Committee (see below) it is
especially important to try to met with them or at least speak with
them over the phone. A high priority should be given to the Chair
Bonnie Brown in Oakville, Ontario.
4) You can also blind copy all MPs across Canada by placing the e-mail
addresses in the bcc section of your e-mail program.
5) Contact your local media friends to probe further with the 'experts' on
what interests are REALLY being protected in the new PCP Act (Bill C-53).
-------------
The proposed Pest Control Products Act (PCPA) is only a start on revising
this 33-year-old legislation.
The website with the text of the bill is:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/37/1/parlbus/chambus/house/bills/government/C-53/C-53_
1/C-53TOCE.html
[The first 10 or 23 pages of the 61-page text are perhaps the most
important.]
EXAMPLES OF CHANGES NECESSARY TO BILL C-53
Preliminary Condition: That, wherever a weakening of PCPA regulations could
occur, the Canadian Pest Control Products Act will take precedence over any
conflicting clauses which may result from the possible future Harmonization
of US/Canada pesticide regulations under NAFTA.
*1. A federal moratorium or ban on landscape pesticides in all Canadian
communities.
*2. Enshrine the Precautionary Principle in the Act; state at the outset
that the PP applies to the entire Act (not just to the re-evaluation of
pesticides already in use, as at present).
*3. Include, encourage and legally accommodate safe, non-toxic ecological
alternatives. Canadians should Not be required to get special permission
from the Minister to use or possess simple (unregistered) commercial,
non-toxic products, or home remedies and solutions for bug and pest control
as this Bill now requires.
*4. Protect Canadian children and the unborn. Additional "margins of
safety" are not as effective in protecting children as living in clean
communities - completely free of pesticides. This is especially true when
synergistic effects can magnify toxicities 100 or 1000 times, and the timing
of exposures can in some cases be more damaging to children and the unborn
than the actual size of the dose received.
*5. The Federal government must fully acknowledge that the Minister's
mandate is to prevent unacceptable risks from the USE of pesticides. One
example of how this might be expressed would be for the PCPA to establish a
national standard for pesticide residues in drinking water matching or
exceeding the protection of the European standard of 0.1 ppb, and replacing
the present Canadian standard of 100 ppb.
*6. Explicitly affirm that, regardless of the existence of any contrary
provincial jurisdictional clauses, ALL municipalities in Canada, without
exception, have clear jurisdiction to regulate pesticide use on municipal,
residential and commercial properties, and that no one needs to provide
documentation in order to benefit from any feature of bylaws that may result
from this jurisdiction.
*7. Require FULL DISCLOSURE of all ingredients on pesticide product labels.
Regarding so-called "inert ingredients," the Attorney General of New York
State has warned: "Many people will conclude from the term 'inert' that such
ingredients could not possibly have any adverse health or environmental
effects. This is not the case at all. The chemicals used as inerts include
some of the most dangerous substances known. Some of these chemicals are
suspected carcinogens and have been linked to other long-term health
problems like central nervous system disorders; liver and kidney damage and
birth defects. Pesticide manufacturers are not required to list all inerts
on the product label. Thus, people must play blind man's bluff when it
comes to which inerts might be in the pesticides they buy or are used where
they live work or play."
(p.1 "The Secret Hazards of Pesticides Inert Ingredients" G. Oliver
Koppell, Attorney General of New York, New York State, Department of Law,
June 1991, Revised 1994).
*8. Establish a requirement that the Act must be reviewed at five-year
intervals.
*9. Reform the structure of Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory
Agency (PMRA) in the following ways:
a) dissolve the (industry-saturated) Economic Management Advisory
Committee
as recommended by the Federal (House of Commons) report on pesticides
(p.150).
b) remove all industry representatives and lobby groups from other Pest
Management Regulatory Agency committees, and establish a requirement for a
lengthy cooling-off period before former committee members may accept
any subsequent positions or benefits from industry.
[Right now, with regard to industry, the PMRA has an "infestation
problem".]
The U.S. Securities Exchange Commission now provides a good model for
these corrective steps following the Enron scandal.
c) create a fixed budget for the PMRA that does not depend on approving
pesticide registrations for 30 percent of their income, as happens now
(Federal
report, p. 145). This will remove any tendency to favour registrations of
synthetic
chemical pesticides over registrations of non-toxic, non-synthetic,
ecological pest control
products.
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