Pesticides

Pesticides in Canada are widespread and commonly used in households- yet few Canadians are informed about the negative effects of these chemicals. Pesticide regulation in Canada is seen as inadequate by many and pesticides are promoted as “safe”; the risks associated with their use minimized. The continued use of pesticides in Canada contributes to a build-up of harmful chemicals in the environment.

According to Canadian studies, DDT and DDE residual levels in the breast milk to Inuit women in the Eastern Arctic are 1210 parts per billion, compared to 171 parts per billion in women in Southern Ontario. The extreme levels of persistent pesticides in Arctic people and animals high on the food chain are largely a result of transboundary transport and bioaccumulation. Similar build-ups of other harmful pesticides have been recorded in various parts of Canada including the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River and the Prairies.

Over 34 million kilograms of...

15 Oct, 2011   |   A 34-year-old national environmental network that has served as a link between people and the federal government shut its doors Friday afternoon after Environment Canada cut its funding. The Canadian Environmental Network was told Thursday that its funding from the federal government won't be renewed. "It was a real kick in the pants," said Dan Casselman, the group's...
19 Sep, 2011   |     September 19, 2011 Orwell, PEI- Sierra Club Canada - Atlantic Canada Chapter is asking for a ban on fracking for natural gas, an end to fish kills and degradation of rivers through nitrates and sediment run off, and an investment in sewage treatment for Charlottetown as three key commitments needed from candidates in the PEI provincial election. Sierra Club Atlantic members gathered...
18 Aug, 2011   |   People with relatively high levels of certain pesticides in their blood may have an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes -- particularly if they are overweight, a new study suggests. The study, reported in the journal Diabetes Care, is not the first to link chemical pollutants to diabetes. A number of studies have found a connection between diabetes risk and exposure to older pesticides...
13 Jul, 2011   |   ST. JOHN’S — Sierra Club environmentalists are appalled the province is doing a helicopter herbicide spray on woodlands this summer using a chemical opposed in neighbouring provinces. Natural Resources has called tender for charter of a helicopter to apply the herbicide VisionMax in central and western Newfoundland, on about 348 cutovers and young plantations between August and...
6 Jul, 2011   |   The provincial government is working toward legislation that would ban home use of pesticides for cosmetic purposes, a practice that is linked to childhood leukemia and other cancers. A bipartisan special committee on cosmetic pesticides headed by Vancouver-Fairview MLA and physician Margaret MacDiarmid will meet for the first time today at the Wosk Centre for Dialogue. The term pesticide...

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