Pesticides

Want to know more about… Pesticides?

Pest organisms are a concern for agriculture, forestry, human, and animal health.  Pests include any harmful or troublesome insects, plants, animals, or microorganisms.  

Pesticides include any product, substance, or organism used to control pests.  They are often used in agriculture, on home lawns and gardens, in personal repellants, and household sprays.  

The use of pesticides in agriculture has lead to concern over dietary exposure to pesticide residues in food.  The Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA), a branch of Health Canada, regulates pesticides according to the Pest Control Products Act.  

The PMRA evaluates all pesticides for potential safety concerns prior to approval and issues application guidelines. The PMRA establishes maximum residue limits (MRL) for all pesticides in an effort to minimize human exposure.  The MRL is an amount of chemical residue that can be present on food products that is not considered to pose a health concern if consumed daily over a lifetime.  Residue monitoring is carried out by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Further Information:

Canadian Government websites

Canadian Food Inspection Agency. (2004). The National Chemical Residue Monitoring Program. Retrieved from, http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/microchem/resid/residfse.shtml

Health Canada. (2007). Pesticides and Health. Retrieved from, http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/pubs/contaminants/fs-fi/pesticides_e.html For updated link, click here.

Pest Management Regulatory Agency of Canada. (2007). Home page. Retrieved from, http://www.pmra-arla.gc.ca/

Canadian Regulations and Standards

Canada Gazette. (2007). Pest Control Products Act (SOR/2007-235). Retrieved from, http://canadagazette.gc.ca/partII/2007/20071114/html/sor235-e.html
For updated link, click here. 

Pest Management Regulatory Agency. (2003). Fact Sheet: Regulation of Pesticides inCanada. Retrieved from, http://www.pmra-arla.gc.ca/english/pdf/fact/fs_pestreg-e.pdf
For updated link, click here.

Non-governmental Organisations

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2007). Pesticide Management Group. Retrieved from, http://www.fao.org/ag/AGP/AGPP/Pesticid/default.htm
New link: http://www.fao.org/agriculture/crops/core-themes/theme/pests/pm/en/

FAO/WHO Food Standards. (2007). Codex Alimentarius – Pesticide Residues in Food.Retrieved from, http://www.codexalimentarius.net/mrls/pestdes/jsp/pest_q-e.jsp

·         Searchable database of international MRLs for pesticides and commodities

International Programme on Chemical Safety. (2007). Home page. Retrieved from,http://www.inchem.org/

·         Searchable chemical safety information from intergovernmental organizations

Pesticide Safety Canada. (2007). Home page. Retrieved from, http://www.pesticidesafety.ca/

·         A nation-wide resource for information on pesticides

United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2007). Pesticides. Retrieved from,http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/

·         Pesticide information page of the U.S. EPA

World Health Organization of the United Nations. (2007). International Programme on Chemical Safety. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/ipcs/en/

Education and Training Opportunities

Ontario Pesticide Education Program. (2007). Home page. Retrieved from http://www.opep.ca/index.cfm

·         An Ontario-based training program for farmers and pesticide vendors

Pest Management Regulatory Agency. (2007). FPT Committee – Pesticide Education, Training & Certification. Retrieved from http://www.pmra-arla.gc.ca/english/fpt/edutran-e.html

·         Pesticide applicator and vendor training and certification in Canada

Date modified: 2012-07-31