Senate report urges PMRA to conclude neonic assessment ‘without delay’

by SUSAN MANN

It’s too early to decide if agricultural uses of neonicotinoids should be prohibited but the federal government agency re-evaluating the insecticide should conclude its assessment “without delay,” says a new report by the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry.

The committee didn’t recommend any timelines, and it appears that the recommendation has not swayed Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency to shift its 2017 deadline for the release of its assessment. However, PMRA will release an interim report during the later part of this year, Health Canada media relations officer André Gagnon says by email.

PMRA is working with the United States Environmental Protection Agency on the re-assessment of three neonicotinoid pesticides – imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and clothianidin.

The Senate committee also recommended PMRA continue monitoring pollinator mortality this year to assess the effectiveness of protective measures adopted last year, such as dust deflectors, the new fluency agent for planters and others.

Gagnon says PMRA “will continue to monitor the effectiveness of the mitigation measures already implemented and review an emerging body of scientific data of all agricultural uses of neonicotinoid pesticides in cooperation with stakeholders.”

The Senate committee’s view is any “decision regarding the use of neonicotinoid active ingredients should be based on scientific results,” according to the report called ‘The Importance of Bee Health to Sustainable Food Production in Canada: Current Status and Strategies for Improvement.’ Released Wednesday, the report contains nine recommendations.

Study began in late 2013

The committee began its study in November 2013 and heard from 85 witnesses, including federal and provincial government representatives from Canada along with government officials from the European Union and Australia. Industry associations, academics and other groups also appeared before the committee.

It has been released just before Ontario is scheduled to begin implementing regulations to reduce the use of neonicotinoid-treated seeds, which is one part of a broader pollinator health action plan. The plan is to regulate neonicotinoids through a new class in the Ontario Pesticides Act. The province’s goal is an 80 per cent reduction in acres planted with neonicotinoid treated corn and soybean seeds by 2017. Regulations begin taking effect July 1.

Grain Farmers of Ontario and other farm groups are opposed to the plan.

Ministry of Environment and Climate Change spokesperson Kate Jordan says by email that the province decided to take action following global scientific research that indicates widespread use of the popular insecticide “is contributing to a decline in pollinator health.”
 
Report generates mixed reaction

Reaction to the Senate report was mixed. Pierre Petelle, vice president, chemistry, for CropLife Canada says the report “adds to the growing voice, like the (United States President Barack) Obama White House Report that collaboration and partnerships is the direction to take on bee health. The issue of bee health is complex and multifactorial.”

As for the recommendations dealing with PMRA and ensuring through audits the agency is working on enhancing its pesticide registration process, Petelle says “we’re fully open to that.”

Petelle says “it’s nice to see the report acknowledge that beekeepers also have a role to play here. It mentions a few times about hive management practices” and the need for beekeepers to have tools to manage hives in the best manner possible.

Mark Brock, chair of Grain Farmers of Ontario, says “the biggest thing that we recognize is the report isn’t really saying that there’s a catastrophe happening out there right now.” Instead, the report contains a balanced approach and looks at all aspects of bee health.

Recommendations for beekeepers

For example, there are several recommendations for beekeepers, such as the need to accelerate implementation of the national bee farm level biosecurity standard and improving beekeepers’ access to new pesticides that could safely be used in bee hives. The report also recommends improving pollinator habitats to achieve floral density and increased funding for research targeting pollinator health.

Brock says the Senate report “seems to be saying a lot of the stuff that we identified holistically that we would like to see done.” He was referring to the Ontario Pollinator Health Blueprint released by the Pollinator Task Force in March. The task force was assembled by Grain Farmers.

Pollinator health needs attention but the Senate report points out “we should do it in a thought-out, methodical process,” he notes. “We don’t need these extreme timelines like our provincial government is pushing forward with right now.”

Dennis Eddell, chair of the issues management committee for the Ontario Beekeepers’ Association, says the report really doesn’t contribute to the neonicotinoid discussions in Ontario. “It’s kind of behind the argument at this point because it’s not factoring in what’s going on in Ontario right now. There’s very little relevance to it.”

Bee package imports recommendation a surprise

Eddell says they were surprised by the committee’s recommendation to allow Canadian beekeepers to import bee packages from the United States, which is something the Ontario association opposes. The committee also recommended improving the inspections of imported bee packages.

The Ontario association along with Quebec beekeepers support the continued closure of the border with the United States on bee package imports because they’re concerned diseases, such as small hive beetle, could be introduced in their provinces along with aggressive Africanized bee strains introduced in the genetics of American package providers.

Ontario beekeepers can import queens and a few workers from the United States and bee packages from other countries, such as New Zealand and Australia.

“We feel there’s no real need to open the border and we prefer to keep package bees (from the United States) out,” he notes.

Another bee-related group, the National Bee Health Roundtable, formerly known as the Bee Health Forum, applauds the Senate report, “which acknowledges that the issue is complex and multifactorial,” according to a May 28 press release. BF