EXECUTIVE SUMMARY — The Food We Eat: An International Comparison of Pesticide Regulations

Published by: David Suzuki Foundation
ISBN: 0-9737599-9-X

Environmental rights pesticides, agriculture, chemicals and toxins, community and culture, human health and wellbeing, policy and regulation

Pesticides are among the most widely used chemicals in the world. In fact, every Canadian carries pesticide residues in his or her body. This is the executive summary of the David Suzuki Foundation’s 2006 report, The Food We Eat. As part of the Healthy Environment, Healthy Canadians series, the report evaluates three areas of government activity related to pesticide use, and offers eight key recommendations to reduce the use of those pesticides that are most hazardous.

Starting with a comparison of Canada’s pesticide regulations with similar standards in the United States, Europe and Australia, this report presents compelling evidence that Canadian regulations are among the weakest in the industrialized world when it comes to governing the use of pesticides and the potential impact of pesticides on food and health. In June 2007, the David Suzuki Foundation released Northern Exposure: Acute Pesticide Poisonings in Canada. The report found that thousands of Canadians are acutely poisoned by pesticides each year, with children under six at the most risk.