Co-chair of Health Canada Scientific Advisory Committee steps down following pesticide control concerns

Bruce Lanphear, a professor at Simon Fraser University and former co-chair of the Health Canada Scientific Advisory Committee, stepped down as co-chair on June 27, citing concerns about pest control products in Canada and a lack of transparency and scientific oversight in pesticide management.

Lanphear told told The Sam Laprade Show on July 19, that his role in the committee gave a false sense of security that Health Canada is protecting Canadians from toxic pesticides.

Studies show that pregnant women exposed to pesticides comes with an increased risk in childhood Leukemia in their offspring, increased rates of pre-term birth and can diminish children’s IQ if exposed in utero, explained Lanphear.

“Historically, we started using things like Lead arsenate as an insecticide, then we moved to DDT and that was also shown to be poisonous,” said Lanphear. “Then we moved to Organophosphate pesticides and scientists called for a ban, and now we’re moving to Neonicotinoids and they’re are already suspicions those are toxic.”

Health Canada’s Scientific Advisory Committee was assembled to help Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) become more transparent and increase confidence that Canadians are being protected from pesticides, he explained.

“My key concerns were not that PRMA staff were incompetent or professional – I think they bent over backward to answer the questions they were allowed to – but that they were constrained by the mandate or legal constraints,” said Lanphear.

Information was difficult to obtain and some of those tough questions we needed answered, we did not receive a response, he explained.

“As a part of the Scientific Advisory Committee, our terms of reference we very restrictive,” he added. “Initially, we could only answer questions when asked and we couldn’t ask questions.”

According to Lanphear, this lack of transparency is a system problem and adds – either the mandate or staff operating under legal constraints driven by the pesticide industry – are preventing questions from being answered

A study found over 80 per cent of pregnant women in Canada have detectable amounts of Glyphosate – which is a herbicide used Roundup – in their urine.

“This means over 80 per cent of pregnant women and most Canadians are routinely exposed to Glyphosate and hundreds of other chemicals regularly,” added Lanphear.

Lanphear said he wanted to know how these new exposure studies change the way PMRA regulates a pesticide, and explained, he asked this question multiple times and did not receive a clear answer.

“I think we have something (Scientific Advisory Committee) in place that can help us feel more confident and we need to get industry representatives off advisory committees or councils on any health agency – that’s just no longer acceptable,” expressed Lanphear.