Northern Exposure: Acute pesticide poisonings in Canada

Over 6,000 Canadians suffer from acute pesticide poisonings every year. That is one of the findings from research conducted by David Boyd for the David Suzuki Foundation report, Northern Exposure: Acute pesticide poisonings in Canada.

Nearly half of those poisoned by pesticides are children under the age of six—imagine 100 kindergarten classes, or 50 school buses full of young children.

This is only the tip of the iceberg: many poisonings are misdiagnosed or completely unreported. Currently, the federal government does not systematically monitor exposure to pesticides. Furthermore, Northern Exposure looks only at acute poisonings—those that occur immediately following exposure. It does not account for chronic poisonings where the impacts are felt over the long-term.

Download Report or Executive Summary

More than 125 municipalities have passed anti-pesticide bylaws, and Quebec now prohibits many lawn and garden pesticides. We applaud those who have taken steps to protect Canadians from the dangers of pesticides.

See if your community has taken steps to ban cosmetic pesticides.If pesticide use is unrestricted in your area, we urge you to take action to help bring this to the attention of your local officials.

The Sierra Club of Canada has developed an excellent community action toolkit with action plans and fact sheets to help people like you to get their municipality to pass laws restricitng pesticides.

10 Steps to reduce pesticide poisoning in your home (PDF 24 GB)

Northern Exposure’s accounting of Canadians that have suffered from acute poisoning from pesticides is a wake-up call to federal and provincial governments to take action. They have an immediate responsibility to begin:

• reporting and monitoring all cases of poisoning,
• educating Canadians about ways to reduce risks,
• regulating substances that pose an unnecessary threat to human health.

Exposure to pesticides can be via breathing, eating, drinking, or direct contact with the eyes or skin. Acute pesticide poisoning can harm the eyes, skin, gastrointestinal tract, nervous system, respiratory system, cardiovascular system, liver, kidneys, and blood. In extreme cases death may occur (a very rare occurrence in Canada, although not in developing countries).

The David Suzuki Foundation calls on our elected leaders to protect the well being of all Canadians – especially our children – from the harms caused by pesticides. Human health concerns should be of paramount importance.

We offer seven key recommendations, summarized below and explained in more detail in the report.

1. Require all pesticide products to be sold in child-resistant containers to minimize risk of accidental exposure.

2. Increase funding to poison control centres with revenue to be raised, in part, through a special surcharge on all pesticides.

3. Implement a national poisoning prevention program with the following central elements:
• Designation of all poisonings, including pesticide poisonings, as reportable events
• Implementation of the Prod Tox program that was shelved in 2002
• Creation of a national poisonings database.

4. Ban the use of pesticides for cosmetic purposes (e.g. lawns and playgrounds).

5. Terminate the registration of all pesticide products where the active ingredient has been banned in another OECD country because of health or environmental concerns.

6. Establish a national environmental health tracking system that includes pesticide poisonings.

7. Recognize Canadians’ right to live in a healthy environment.

The surest way to reduce risks is to eliminate the possibility of exposure. The David Suzuki Foundation encourages individuals to avoid buying pesticides and ensure safe storage of all toxic substances in the home.