Environmental commissioner's neonic remarks 'irresponsible': Grain Farmers

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

by SUSAN MANN

Ontario environmental commissioner Gord Miller plans to meet with Grain Farmers of Ontario officials at their request so they can hear and discuss his concerns about neonicotinoids and to tell him about their continued efforts to protect pollinators.

Hayley Easto, communications and outreach coordinator with the commissioner’s office, confirmed today “the meeting will happen.” But they’re still working out the details.

In an Oct. 8 press release, Grain Farmers of Ontario says it’s disappointed by Miller’s comments Tuesday in releasing his annual report to the legislature about neonicotinoids being a bigger threat to Ontario’s ecosystem than DDT.

“It is perplexing that his remarks would jump to this judgment especially when there is no mention of it in the formal report or in his initial address to media,” Grain Farmers chair Henry Van Ankum says in the release, and calls Miller’s comment “irresponsible.”

“The report only summarized the concerns and issues that we have heard before and we are already working on those,” he says.

Barry Senft, Grain Farmers CEO, says in the release its disappointing Miller’s comments “call into question our world-renowned regulatory system. Neonicotinoids went through years of rigorous testing before being approved by the PMRA (Pest Management Regulatory Agency). If there were any similarities to DDT, neonicotinoid-based products would not have been permitted into the marketplace.”

The Grain Farmers release also touched on the ways its members and the industry are addressing pollinator protection.

For example, Grain Farmers members have willingly adhered to new best management practices during this year’s growing season, “which early indications show were successful in helping to lower the number of bee death incidents” reported to the PMRA this spring, it says.

In addition, Grain Farmers has participated in research on dust reduction that has “prompted an industry-wide look into planter modifications,” the release says. Grain Farmers has also supported additional research into the responsible use of neonicotinoids, including an analysis of the presence of soil pests in Ontario.

Given those efforts by farmers, their industry partners and public researchers, Grain Farmers says it is extremely disappointed by Miller’s comments Tuesday. BF