Pesticides: Ottawa wants to allow more residue on wild blueberries

At the end of the phone, from his blueberry farm in Lock-Saint-Jean, Daniel Cope admits his surprise. The president of the Quebec Blueberry Producers Association has never asked Health Canada to tolerate too much pesticide residue.

Rather, he said. Our members are increasingly going organic.

In the public consultation documents on the Health Canada site, the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) proposes to increase tolerance from 3 parts per million (ppm) to 10 ppm per metalloxyl (New window) (A fungicide) and 0.7 to 2 ppm for sulfoxaflor (New window) (An insecticide).

As for raspberries, the change refers only to the metalloxyl, but the improvement is important: the tolerance is seven times higher than it currently is.

David Lemaire, president of the Quebec Association of Strawberry and Raspberry Growers, is also unaware. This is not really Quebec’s demand, He promises. This is incomprehensible to me.

We have no interest in raising that rate because it would allow products that exceed current standards to come home.

Unknown claimants and justifications

On the contrary Advice on glyphosate This justified the change by import and sales requirements, and both advisory documents did not specify the need to change the limits.

It is not known who is the applicant for both pesticides. In the case of glyphosate, it is a round maker, Bayer heard it.

Our questions for Health Canada were not answered. However, we know that pesticide manufacturers are often at the forefront of these demands. Their Crowlife lobby recently recognized this.

This file is different, Reacts to a professor at the Institute of Environmental SciencesUQAMUniversity of Quebec in Montreal And pesticide expert, Louis Vandelac. This is a very complete opacity.

When it comes to industry data used to analyze industry claims, this is a vicious circle, to say the least.

The applicant provided “field test data” to the government without specifying the location (any country, for example) and the conditions under which these tests were performed.

From these data we learn that the highest average metalloxide residue found in raspberries is 0.686 ppm. However, MRL Ottawa proposes to set it to 1.5. This is twice as much.

However, the “risks” of all newly established limits are considered “acceptable to human health and the environment,” Health Canada writes in the document.

What are these pesticides?

Metalaxyl is a fungicide that helps control root rot. It is sold by the Swiss multinational Synod under the Orondis-Gold brand.

It is a systemic insecticide that is absorbed by leaves, stems and roots. The product circulates within the plant organism, Explains Louis Honald-Ethereum, co-researcher at INRS and director of the Center Eve Terre environment.

If we talk about a proper product, the whole fruit may contain pesticides.

Statistics show that a Canadian consumes an average of 1.1 kg of blueberries (hype and wild) per year and 1.43 kg of processed products.

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Photo: Radio-Canada

Sulfoxaflor is an insecticide that helps control aphids and bed bugs. It is marketed by the American multinational Cordeva under the Closer brand.

According to the Quebec Pesticide Database, sulfoxfluor is “toxic to bees”. In addition, “neurodevelopmental effects” were observed in laboratory mice “without confirmation or confirmation of the relevance of these effects in humans.”

Statistics show that a Canadian consumes an average of 1.1 kg of blueberries (hype and wild) per year and 1.43 kg of processed products.

In its assessment, the PMRA takes into account the average food consumption, but Louis Henold-Ethereum and Louis Vandolac question whether doing these things. The diet of some indigenous peoples and the inhabitants of Lock-Saint-Gene, they are concerned about eating more wild blueberries.