SPPA Associate Professor Marc-André Gagnon
SPPA Associate Professor Marc-André Gagnon‘s paper highlights how pharmaceutical regulation could inspire the regulation for pesticides.
Time to improve transparency at Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency
Marc-André Gagnon and Marie-Hélène Bacon
Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) November 27, 2023 195 (46) E1583-E1584; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.231089
KEY POINTS
- In the last year, Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency has been criticized for not releasing information about the safety of pesticides because data are considered confidential business information.
- This level of secrecy contrasts with Health Canada’s efforts to improve transparency related to therapeutic products.
- Vanessa’s Law gives the federal Minister of Health discretionary powers to share confidential business information on therapeutic products when it perceives there is a serious risk to human health or the environment.
- The Minister of Health should be granted similar discretionary powers to make safety data for pesticides publicly available.