Canadians have until July 20 to speak up against the federal government’s proposal to raise the quantity of glyphosate pesticide residue allowed on grains and legumes.
Glyphosate, sold under the name Roundup, is sprayed on crops to control weeds and pests. But the herbicide has also been linked to cancer.
Under the proposed change in regulations, traces of glyphosate residue on food will triple in some foods. Wheat increases from 5 parts per million to 15; oats will go from 15 to 35; barley will go from ten to fifteen; beans from four to sixteen; and lentils from four to ten.
COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS
If Health Canada’s proposal is accepted Canada's permitted concentration of glyphosate residue in food will exceed that of the U.S., and the international standard which is outlined by the United Nations , to facilitate the import and export of food between countries.
“It’s slightly shocking to ascertain that Canada, in many product categories, actually wants to exceed what our trading partners do for max residue levels,” says Tia Loftsgard, executive of the Canada Organic Trade Association.
The more that herbicide is sprayed, the more residue which will drift over to neighboring crops — including organic ones, where foods are intentionally grown without the utilization of herbicides. Canadian organic foods may have trouble selling overseas as a result, says Loftsgard.
“That’s just not what the organic sector wants,” she says.
But consistent with some, use of pesticides and herbicides is usually crucial so as for Canadian farms to manage risks and stay competitive.
“I think it’s important for Canadians to completely appreciate the realities farmers out there, the risks that they need to manage every single day,” says Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University. “You’re always each day or two from seeing a disaster, call at the fields — you’re handling droughts, you’re handling floods, you’re handling pests.”
Dr. Charlebois says that herbicides are often a superb tool within the farmer’s tool belt to assist them manage these risks — but as long as used responsibly and consistent with regulations.
“The challenge, of course, with farms, is that always they overdo it,” he says. “And that basically creates some issues associated with health and therefore the health of fields.”
In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer found that glyphosate is “probably carcinogenic to humans,” but this conclusion was supposedly contradicted by later studies.
But a number of said studies were called into question after it had been revealed that Monsanto, the manufacturer of Roundup, reviewed a number of the findings before publication, even editing a number of the passages. Monsanto has also been accused of ghostwriting the studies, although it denies these allegations.
Some of these studies were utilized in the Canadian government’s 2017 re-evaluation of glyphosate use within the country, during which Health Canada concluded that the herbicide is safe to be used . In light of recent revelations about Monsanto, however, the choice was met by controversy.
“There have […] been concerns raised publicly about the validity of a number of the science around glyphosate in what's being mentioned because the Monsanto Papers,” reads a 2019 statement on the Health Canada website.
In response to the present pushback, Health Canada re-examined the validity of their data, stating, after a thorough scientific review, we have concluded that the concerns raised by the objectors could not be scientifically supported when considering the entire body of relevant data. The objections raised did not create doubt or concern regarding the scientific basis for the 2017 re-evaluation decision for glyphosate. Therefore, the Department’s final decision will stand.”
