Canada plans to phase out neonicotinoids

Pesticides thought to harm bees to be restricted in Canada starting in 3 years

OTTAWA — The federal government will begin phasing out the outdoor use of nicotine-based pesticides beginning in 2021, part of an effort to stem the mysterious decline of honey bee colonies around the world.

The Pest Management Regulatory Agency of Canada is to announce today a three-year phaseout of two of the three main neonicotinoid pesticides approved for use in the country, sources said.

The agency has already announced plans to phase out the third pesticide in all outdoor uses, meaning it can’t be sprayed or used to pretreat seeds.

Neonicotinoids, or neonics, are a class of pesticides that manage pests like aphids and spider mites. Scientists blame the chemicals for weakening bees, making them more susceptible to disease and bad weather.

Today’s decision will mark the completion of nearly six years of work by the agency, and follows a similar ban by the European Union that takes effect at the end of the year.

Environmental groups say they are glad to see Canada moving ahead with a ban.

“This is a really huge decision,” said John Bennett, a senior policy adviser at Friends of the Earth Canada.

Health Canada is breaking from what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is doing, Bennett said — an unusual move, considering Canada and the U.S. are normally in lockstep on such decisions and the reviews in both countries were a group effort.

While the EPA has yet to fully announce its decision concerning all applications of neonics, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last week lifted an existing ban that prevented their use in wildlife refuges.

Bee colony collapses began occurring in substantial numbers about 15 years ago and studies linked those deaths to mites and neonics.

A task force at the International Union for Conservation of Nature last year updated a comprehensive review of more than 1,100 peer-reviewed research studies on neonicotinoids and concluded there was no doubt they harm bees.

The bees are hit by neonics when they fly through dust clouds left behind as the pesticides are sprayed, or by consuming nectar from treated plants.

Their loss represents a significant issue for food sources, since about one-third of food crops require pollinators to survive.

In July, the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists said almost half of bees in Ontario died over the winter, while across Canada about one-third of all bees perished in the unusually cold winter.