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Bittersweet end to pollinators case

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In Agriculture
May 6th, 2019
2 Comments
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Neonicotinoid case dismissed as moot after 3-year struggle

From EcoJustice

After an epic three-year struggle to protect pollinators in the face of irresponsible regulatory practices by Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA), Ecojustice has been handed a disappointing outcome.

We have recently learned that the Federal Court decided to dismiss our neonicotinoid pesticide case on mootness grounds, related to the timing of the case. This means that, although we argued our case forcefully and well at the hearing in November 2018, the Court declined to decide on the merits of what it heard.

Our clients, the David Suzuki Foundation, Friends of the Earth Canada, Ontario Nature and the Wilderness Committee, brought this case in 2016 because the PMRA has long failed to live up to its legal responsibilities as a regulator. Our lawsuit challenged a decades-long history of conditional registrations of Thiamethoxam neonicotinoid pesticides by the PMRA. These pesticides are toxic to bees and other pollinators, and the PMRA’s own scientists acknowledged that they lacked the science to accurately assess the risks posed to the environment by these products.

Because the Court did not decide on the merits of our case, we didn’t receive a decision either way on whether the PMRA’s actions fundamentally undermined the precautionary nature of the Pest Control Products Act by registering possibly harmful products without understanding their impact on ecosystems.

This outcome is all the more disappointing because of your dedication to this issue, and because of how hard Ecojustice battled to get pollinators their day in court. We fought off two separate motions from government and industry to shut us down. You urged us on and supported us when it took years of delay to bring the case to a full hearing: The courtroom scenes were David-and-Goliath matchups, with more than a dozen lawyers opposing us – so many that they spilled into our half of the courtroom.

Our disappointment in this decision is tempered by the positive regulatory changes made during our long years fighting this case. The PMRA has repealed the conditional registrations regulation and conducted more research on pesticide impacts on pollinators. Some of that research has led the PMRA to conclude that some uses of Thiamethoxam neonicotinoid pesticides pose unacceptable risks to pollinators, and there is a planned phase-out of some uses.

So Ecojustice did not win this battle, but thanks to your support, we’re winning the war.

Ecojustice remains deeply committed to protecting bees and other pollinators. And until Health Canada and the PMRA follow the law and only register pesticides when they are reasonably certain they do not damage the environment, we will continue to hold them to account.

2 Responses to “Bittersweet end to pollinators case”

  1. Donna Deneault says:

    This is most disturbing. I was certain Ecojustice would win. Yes, we will continue to hold them to account. Even knowing the pollinators are on the verge of extinction, we have to deal with this sad outcome.

    https://thenarwhal.ca/canada-delays-insecticide-ban-study-finds-insects-verge-extinction/

  2. Laurie Wallace says:

    Don’t give up. They have to listen; otherwise the planet is doomed.

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