Environmental groups, beekeepers give Canada’s pesticide regulator a failing grade on neonics

Yesterday, environmental groups and beekeepers issued a statement following Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency's release of final decisions on registration review of neonicotinoid pesticides.

Environmental groups and beekeepers disagree with the final decisions of Canada’s pesticide regulatory agency (PMRA) assessing risks to pollinators from neonicotinoid insecticides. In the decisions, published today, the federal Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) concludes that risks to bees from major uses of neonics are acceptable.
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“We fail to understand why pesticides that the PMRA itself has identified as a risk to the environment and the European Union has banned on the basis of risks to bees would be considered acceptable in Canada,” the Ontario Beekeepers’ Association’s André Flys said. “We must improve pesticide regulation and pollinator protection in Canada, or our bees and ecosystems will suffer the consequences.”

View Full Media Release.

See PMRA's Final Decisions:

• RVD2019-06: Imidacloprid and Its Associated End-use Products: Pollinator Re evaluation
• RVD2019-05: Clothianidin and Its Associated End-use Products: Pollinator Re-evaluation
• RVD2019-04: Thiamethoxam and Its Associated End-use Products: Pollinator Re-evaluation