Deep links revealed between Canada's pesticide regulator and industry lobby groups

Six of 11 key executives for Canada's largest pesticide and agrichemical lobby group held senior government positions with this country’s pesticide and food safety regulators for years before starting their current positions, a new analysis reveals. 

The study was conducted by Quebec environmental group Vigilance OGM and comes in the wake of several bombshell investigations by Canada's National Observer and Radio-Canada since 2021 that have exposed how pesticide producers and federal officials collaborated to protect industry interests. 

Among the key lobbyists highlighted in the report is Pierre Petelle, Croplife Canada's president and CEO, who spent five years as a senior policy analyst with Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA). 

Emilie Bergeron, Croplife's vice-president of chemistry, who spent about 15 years as a deputy director with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Global Affairs Canada, is also mentioned, as is Terri Stewart, the organization's executive director of chemistry. Stewart spent 16 years with Canada's pesticide regulator working on pesticide re-evaluations.  

In a statement to Canada's National Observer, Petelle said, "Croplife Canada and its staff are committed to upholding the highest ethical standards and bringing forward information and policy proposals that are grounded in sound science….We abide by all rules and requirements as part of our engagements with any level of government."

Health Canada did not respond by deadline to questions from Canada's National Observer about the federal regulators' independence from industry. 

The movement between government pesticide regulators and corporate lobbying firms has happened in the other direction, as well. Health Canada senior policy advisor Maham Yousufzai worked with pesticide giant Bayer Crop Science on patents and risk management. Kristin Rickard, a senior scientific evaluator with Health Canada, was a project manager with Croplife America, the lobby group's American arm, from 2006 to 2009. 

Veronica Hernandez, a plant health inspector with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, was an agronomist with Bayer Crop Science for over 11 years before working for the government. 

The findings highlight extensive ties between the planet's pesticide giants and the federal agencies tasked with regulating them, according to Vigilance OGM, the Quebec environmental group that did the analysis. 

“Our intention is to shed light on certain lobbying practices that we have observed for more than a decade and that have an impact on Canadian agricultural policies to the detriment of the public interest. We can no longer go from scandal to scandal without addressing the underlying and systemic issues,” said Thibault Rehn, coordinator of Vigilance OGM.

The group isn't the only one crying foul: On Wednesday, a coalition of environmental groups and academics sent a letter to Health Minister Mark Holland asking for an immediate pause on the use of neonicotinoid pesticides because of the PMRA's capture by industry. 

"The capture is so extensive that PMRA, explicitly or implicitly, has adopted the same goal as that of the agrochemical lobby — that pesticides and GMOs are to be promoted above all else, at the expense of principles of scientific and regulatory integrity and the public interest," wrote Mary Lou McDonald, founder, president and counsel of Safe Food Matters, in response to the recent findings. 

In theory, former federal employees cannot work for or sit on the board of directors of an organization they dealt with in their government roles, said Duff Conacher, director and coordinator of government ethics watchdog Democracy Watch. However, he noted in an email to Canada's National Observer, the one-year limit isn't long enough to erode the relationships built between former civil servants working as lobbyists and their ex-colleagues. The rule is "much too weak," he said, to effectively prevent industry groups and companies from exerting undue pressure on regulators.  

The analysis shows how pro-pesticide messaging is amplified by organizations, public education initiatives and academics that have links to the pesticide industry. This includes close ties between six of Canada's largest agricultural lobby groups and the pesticide lobby. For example, the Canadian Grains Council is presided over by Croplife president and CEO Pierre Petelle, while lobby group Soy Canada receives support from pesticide producers through member dues. 

Vigilance OGM also noted the role industry-funded scholars play in fostering public support for their products, citing a 2022 survey by Léger Polling that found about 92 per cent of Canadians trust professors. In particular, the organization highlighted links between University of Saskatchewan researcher Stuart Smyth and pesticide producers, and pro-pesticide statements by prominent Dalhousie researcher and public scholar Sylvain Charlebois.

Advocates were clear, however, that the biggest problems lie in the close relationship between federal regulators and pesticide manufacturers. 

"I remain baffled by our government’s inaction in the face of such influence. As an expert in toxic chemicals, I know that this complacency has and will continue to have significant consequences for the health of Canadians," warned Bruce Lanphear, a public health expert at Simon Fraser University. 

Lanphear made headlines last year when he resigned from his position co-chairing a scientific advisory committee for Canada's pesticide regulator, citing the agency's lack of transparency and "obsolete" approach to pesticide regulation. 

This is not a new problem: In 2000, the federal Standing Committee on the Environment and Sustainable Development slammed the pesticide regulator for its close ties to industry. More than two decades later, the problems persist. 

Since 2020 alone, the PMRA has been caught colluding with a pesticide producer to undermine environmental data supporting a ban on neonicotinoid pesticides; ignored red flags from its own scientists regarding the health impacts of a pesticide chemically related to Second World War-era chemical weapons; and come under fire for proposing to increase how much glyphosate residue can remain on food at the request of pesticide company Bayer. 

Meanwhile, pesticide use in Canada has soared despite growing evidence the chemicals are harming human health and devastating the environment. Canada falls behind nearly 90 per cent of countries when it comes to banning pesticides. 

"The system needs to change. The pesticide regulator, as the decision-maker on pesticides, should not in any way work with those promoting pesticide use," said McDonald, from Safe Food Matters. "It makes no sense, and the result is a regulator that keeps churning out pesticide and GMO approvals at the expense of Canadians' health."