Canada's pesticide regulator is leaving farmworkers in the dark about the health risks they face from pesticides because it has not been enforcing key provisions in Canada's main pesticide law for decades, environmental law advocates and Canada's largest food sector union alleged in a lawsuit filed this month.
The provisions require pesticide manufacturers to provide material safety data sheets that include detailed information about how their products are toxic, and the symptoms they can cause — similar to the sheets present in any chemical-heavy work environment, like a lab or a cleaning company. Workplace safety rules require farmers to store those sheets separately from the pesticide containers, and in locations where workers who are using pesticides or exposed to them can review the information.
But for the past 19 years, Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) hasn't enforced those provisions, the lawsuit alleges. Instead, the plaintiffs say, the agency lets pesticide producers skip the data sheet and only include basic toxicological information on their product labels. That makes it harder for farmworkers to know which pesticides they are being exposed to on the farm and how the chemicals might impact their health.
Between 2018 and 2020, the PMRA received about 5,653 pesticide incident reports, which are filed to the agency whenever someone is exposed to a pesticide and suffers a health impact from it.
A 2021 study by CAREX Canada found that about 113,000 farmworkers were exposed to three common pesticides in Canada, which are all linked to cancer and known to harm the kidneys, liver and endocrine system.
Pesticide use in Canada has quintupled over the past two decades, with manufacturers selling more than 130 million kilograms of pesticides in 2021.
The problem is especially acute for the roughly 78,000 temporary foreign farmworkers in Canada: Their visas are tied to their jobs, making it risky to ask for more information about the products used by their employers, reporting health harms linked to the chemicals, or refusing to work if they might be exposed, said Laura Bowman, a lawyer at Ecojustice. The organization filed the lawsuit alongside the United Food and Commercial Workers union.
"It's a weird, Wild West situation for these workers," she said. Without the safety data sheets, it is far more difficult for them to know which pesticides are being used on the farm (unless their employer tells them) and the symptoms associated with being exposed to harmful levels of the products.
The labels do not contain as much information about the products' health impacts, and Bowman said several workers have told her they rarely see the pesticide containers anyway because the product is already in a sprayer when they're exposed.
She explained that the PMRA's decision to ignore the safety data sheet rule undermines farmworkers' right to know about workplace dangers. Farmworkers can seek help from provincial workplace safety boards if they face repercussions from refusing to engage in work they consider unsafe, including work where they will be exposed to pesticides.
However, those rules require employers to provide workers safety data information sheets, and a worker's right to refuse work is based on them having access to those sheets. Pesticide labels aren't incorporated as a valid source workers can cite to refuse to perform a task in those provincial laws, she said.
In a statement, a PMRA spokesperson said the agency "requires both toxicological and occupational exposure information on labels" and that it "promotes, verifies, and enforces compliance" with federal laws that require pesticide users to follow the labels.
Between 2019 and 2024, the agency conducted an average of 830 inspections annually of pesticide producers, retailers and users to verify they were complying with Canada's pesticide laws, including on labels. It issued a total of 9,257 fines, warning letters, and compliance orders in that period.
However, the farmworkers’ union, which operates support centres that field complaints, says the people they hear from are telling a very different story about how farmers follow pesticide labels.
"Nintey-eight per cent of workers … have reported not having enough information about health and safety in their workplace," said Rosemary Quinsey, national representative for the UFCW. The union represents about 2,000 unionized foreign farmworkers and supports others.
A press release published by the UFWC announcing the lawsuit included a quote attributed to a farmworker referred to only by his first name, Francisco. Quinsey told Canada's National Observer that no workers, including Francisco, were open to an interview.
"The boss gives us the pesticide, tells us to fill the tanks and sends us to spray the plants. No gloves, no masks, no protection at all. Nobody showed me how to protect myself or handle the pesticide. The greenhouse is packed with workers, all of us breathing the chemical. If we complain, we are fired and deported so we keep quiet."
The system is not designed to provide workers with clear information about what they're exposed to, said Anne-Marie Nicol, a professor at Simon Fraser University who specializes in health communication. It is a problem she thinks could get worse in the coming years if Canada continues to push for more local production.
About 50 per cent of Canada's fruit, nuts and vegetables are imported from the US. Nearly 90 per cent of leafy greens come from California. Canada also relies heavily on California and Arizona for spinach, celery, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage, according to research by York University.
The lawsuit comes against the backdrop of chronic transparency and corporate influence problems at the PMRA. Last September, Canada's information commissioner slammed the agency for stalling the public release of health and safety information. Weeks later, an investigation by Canada's National Observer found that the agency had colluded with Bayer, the pesticide manufacturer, to keep neonicotinoid pesticides on the market.
The agency's refusal to require that pesticide producers include safety data sheets "creates a major barrier to exercising a whole range of health and safety rights," said Bowman.
Comments