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Half of pesticide poisonings are
children: report
Pesticides poison more than 6,000 Canadians every year, with about half
of those being children under the age of six, according to a report by
the David Suzuki Foundation.
The environmental group made the finding after compiling data from
provincial and regional authorities.
The study, released Thursday, says an average of 6,090 people suffer
from acute pesticide poisonings every year, with children under six
account for an estimated 2,832 -- or 46.5 per cent -- of those cases.
The report focuses on cases of acute pesticide poisonings, in which a
person develops symptoms ranging from watery eyes and skin rashes to
seizures and respiratory failure immediately after exposure.
The David Suzuki Foundation is calling on the federal government to
create a national database to accurately record the number of poisonings
and consider requiring pesticide products to come in childproof
containers.
"The startling number of Canadian children poisoned by pesticides
provides compelling evidence that stronger actions are required to
prevent these incidents from happening," the report's author, David
Boyd, a professor and environmental lawyer, said in a release.
Lisa Gue, the foundation's health and environment policy analyst, said
governments should ban the use and sale of cosmetic pesticides on lawns
and gardens to eliminate a probable source of many of these poisonings.
"The mere presence of pesticides in a home, garage, or garden creates a
risk to homeowners and children, as does the application of pesticides,"
she said.
The organization said it was unable to obtain data from Manitoba or the
territories, so the report based estimates for those regions on the
results for the rest of Canada.
Boyd said he was surprised at how difficult it was to obtain the
information.
The report asks the federal government to revive Prod Tox, an online
network that combined data from provincial and territorial poison
control centres to track poisonings and analyze trends, The Globe and
Mail reports.
The initiative, started by a division of the Public Health Agency of
Canada, was shelved in 2002 while still a pilot project.
The new and improved Pest Control Products Act, which came into effect
this April, requires pesticide manufacturers to report all poisoning
incidents to Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency. That
information is set to be published on the agency's website next week.
A voluntary reporting system for the general public is currently being
developed, the agency says.
The pesticide report says more than 125 municipalities in Canada have
passed bylaws to restrict cosmetic pesticide use, adding Quebec is the
only province with legislation that prohibits the sale of some
pesticides.
The report also recommends:
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