Agricultural Practices and Regulations
The pest management regulation agency (PMRA) is a branch of health Canada whose mission is to “protects human health and the environment by minimizing the risks associated with pest control while enabling access to pest management tools”.
o Pesticides are, by their very nature, toxic, however are carefully regulated in Canada
o The Pest Control Product Act (PCA) mandates that the PMRA prevents unacceptable risks to people and the environment from the use of pest control products
o The pest management Regulatory Agency works in partnership with Agriculture and Agriculture food Canada to move toward sustainable pest management
Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
o IPM is an effective and environmentally sensitive approach to pest management that relies on a combination of “common-sense-practice”
o IPM use current, comprehensive information combined with pest control methods, manage pest damage by environmental means. 9lest hazard to people, property, and environment
o By using integrated pest management, pest for specific crops are identified and strategies are researched to manage those pests
Maximum Residue Limits for Pesticides
o The PMRA set residue chemistry guidelines based on research of the effects of the chemicals on the consumer of the products
o The guidelines state specific Max Residue Limit (MRL) for each chemical used on the agriculture. Certain percentage of the chemical residue from the pesticides is permitted to show up in the food derived from their crops.
o Value of the MRL varies depending on the toxicity on the chemical used
Pesticide Risks
o The difficulty with setting effective mas residue limits is that the effects of toxicity of the chemical in humans over time are hard to calculate
o Animal studies are used to estimate the effects of large does exposures but rarely estimate the accumulated effect of all the chemical substances we are exposed to daily
o Chemicals also do not affect each person equally. Different people may exhibit sensitivities or tolerance for certain chemicals. Also age and a person’s health play a huge role in how a chemical can affect one.
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