Pesticide poisoning bigger problem than Canadians may think

Kelly Patterson, CanWest News Service, "Pesticide poisoning bigger
problem than Canadians may think", Canada.com, June 21, 2007,
Link: http://www.canada.com/topics/news/na...094fd0&k=62351

More than 6,000 Canadians -- almost half of them children -- suffer
acute pesticide poisoning every year, according to the first
comprehensive national survey of the issue.

"The numbers are shocking," says Gideon Forman, executive director of
the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. "It is
very worrisome that almost half of the victims were under six years
old."

"This is a much bigger problem than anybody previously suspected,"
says David Boyd, author of the report, which was based on data from
poison control centres across the country.

Boyd's report tracked only acute pesticide poisonings -- those
resulting in immediate effects, such as blistering of the skin,
respiratory distress, heart palpitations and vomiting.

Suspected chronic effects of pesticides, such as a higher risk of
cancer, neurological diseases such as Parkinson's, birth defects and
organ damage, were not taken into account in the report, which was
expected to be released today by the David Suzuki Foundation.

More than 2,800 children under the age of six suffer acute pesticide
poisoning in Canada every year, comprising 46.5 per cent of all
recorded cases, the report found.

Quebec had the highest number of reported pesticide poisonings
overall, with 2,096, followed by Ontario with 1,629, and Alberta with
1,021. Provinces with large populations of farmers had the highest per-
capita incidence: 33 per 100,000 for Saskatchewan and 30 per 100,000
for Alberta. Ontario had a reported 13 cases per 100,000. No
fatalities were reported.

Boyd says the report's findings fall below the actual incidence of
poisonings, noting there are no national standards for collecting the
data.

The Maritime provinces, for example, don't report how many pesticide-
poisonings involve children, and Manitoba provided only partial data.

"It was obvious from conversations with doctors and staff at a number
of poison control centres that there is an urgent need for more
resources ... standardized reporting and recording, and a national
approach," the report says.

By contrast, the U.S. has a state-of-the-art tracking system for all
poisons that gathers real-time data from more than 60 poison-control
centres, breaking it down into the source of the poison, the severity
of its effects, age of the patient and other factors of interest to
health officials.

The report notes the "incomplete and inconsistent Canadian system"
estimates 2,832 cases of child pesticide-poisoning cases annually,
whereas "the more comprehensive American system records more than
52,000 such cases."

That's 20 times the Canadian figure, in a population that is 10 times
larger than Canada's, Boyd says. That suggests the Canadian figures
are significantly underreported, he says.

The federal Pest Management Regulatory Agency says manufacturers and
some poisoning victims have, in the past, come forward voluntarily
every year to report acute exposures; these typically amount to only
five to 20 cases a year.

But the agency, which sets the safety rules for pesticides, recently
expanded this program, making incident reports mandatory for
manufacturers, says agency spokesman Jean-Pierre Lachaine.

It has received 20 to 30 reports since that rule came into effect in
April, said Lachaine. So far, all have been minor incidents, he said.

And the PMRA is setting up a website for members of the public and
health-care professionals to report poisoning incidents
electronically. These reports, along with agency analyses of the data,
will be posted on the web once the program starts toward the end of
this year, he adds.

"That's a step forward," says Dr. Robin Walker, former chief of
neonatology at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario. "Canada has
been lagging well behind the U.S. in this regard."

However, he adds the reporting of pesticide poisonings by health-care
workers should be mandatory, not voluntary, so that cases don't fall
between the cracks.

Boyd agrees, pointing to a 2006 article in the British Columbia
Medical Journal that noted poisonings that are dealt with directly by
physicians and medical clinics, rather than a poison control centre,
go unreported.

Walker, a prominent leader in last year's unsuccessful push for a
bylaw to restrict cosmetic pesticides in Ottawa, says such issues are
urgent in Canada, arguing regulations here are "not rigorous,"
especially when it comes to assessing the potential effects of
chronic, low-level exposure to pesticides.

Boyd agrees, noting there are about 1,000 pesticide products for sale
in Canada that are banned in other nations because of health concerns.

Ottawa Citizen