OTTAWA — More than 100,000 people have told Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) not to register flupyradifurone, Bayer’s latest bee-killing pesticide.

Over the past three weeks, Sierra Club Canada Foundation, David Suzuki Foundation and SumOfUs.org spearheaded a campaign to inform the public of the opportunity to submit formal comments to the PMRA.

“We shared the facts about flupyradifurone, and the response has been incredible,” said Paul Ferris, of SumOfUs.org. “Over 110,000 sent a clear message to PMRA: Protect the bees.”

The PMRA proposed approving flupyradifurone in September, initiating a mandatory comment period that ended November 3, 2014. Flupyradifurone has the same “mode of action” as bee-killing neonicotinoids: both types of pesticides attack the nervous systems of insects. In its decision, the PMRA said flupyradifurone, like neonicotinoids, is toxic to bees and could also pose a threat to birds and small mammals.

“We’re calling this the new f-word,” said Lisa Gue of the David Suzuki Foundation. “Clearly Canadians share our concern about allowing yet another pesticide in this class to contaminate the environment.”

The PMRA announced a review of neonicotinoid pesticides in 2013 after admitting on its website that their use as a seed treatment on corn and soybeans is unsustainable because they kill bees. Despite the review, the PMRA has continued to allow use of neonicotinoid pesticides in Canada.

“Why does the PMRA continue to approve more bee-killing poisons?” asked Mr. Bennett. “It’s time for a complete review of how pesticides are regulated in Canada.”

The following organizations are calling on Health Canada to reject flupyradifurone:

  • Sierra Club Canada Foundation
  • David Suzuki Foundation
  • Pollination Canada
  • National Farmers Union
  • SumOfUs.Org
  • Conservation Council of New Brunswick
  • Friends of the Earth
  • Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment

– 30 –

For more information contact:

Lisa Gue, David Suzuki Foundation, (613) 914-0747, lgue@davidsuzuki.org
John Bennett, Sierra Club Canada Foundation, (613) 291-6888, jb@sierraclub.ca