Green Party Leader David Coon said the repetitive cycle of complaints about approved chemicals eventually leading to restrictions on their use feels 'like that movie Groundhog Day.' (Logan Perley/CBC file)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oq5iVmTJdI
J.D. Irving hunted down by Pain in the Ass Blogger on Queen Street in Fredericton today!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0PET7u0_ew
Leader David Coon on the Environmental Stewardship Committee meeting on the banning of glyphosate!!!
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/glyphosate-climate-change-committee-hearings-1.6074726
Glyphosate takes centre stage as pesticide hearings get underway in New Brunswick
Four days of hearings begin, with 16 presenters speaking out for and against controversial herbicide's use
The controversial herbicide glyphosate took centre stage during the first of four days of hearings in Fredericton on Tuesday.
The hearings, held by the standing committee on climate change and environmental stewardship, are intended to review pesticide and herbicide use in New Brunswick.
But on opening day, the presentations focused almost exclusively on the pros and cons of glyphosate.
Glyphosate, used mainly by the province's forestry and agriculture sectors to control weeds and other vegetation, has been the subject of several lawsuits that allege it is a health risk.
Health Canada has stood by the scientific evidence it used to approve the continued use of glyphosate in weed killers, and says it has been found unlikely to pose a carcinogenic risk to humans.
On Tuesday, the Conservation Council of New Brunswick was first up on a four-day agenda of more than a dozen presenters.
New chief forester role proposed
Lois Corbett, the council's executive director, highlighted new studies around the herbicide and set out a number of recommendations, including a ban on herbicides, a dramatic reduction in clearcutting of forests, and the appointment of a chief forester.
It's a role that has already been created in provinces such as British Columbia and Quebec.
"That is to hold someone to account in the legislature on how are these big plans working?" Corbett said.
"How are you meeting the expectations of citizens' involvement, First Nations involvement? And how are you dealing with this whole raft of new science, new science, new science?"
People in New Brunswick care about their forests, and you've got to trust them.
- Lois Corbett, Conservation Council of New Brunswick
Corbett also cited several new findings, including some she considers "alarming."
She said she has seen new peer-reviewed studies that found the pesticide has been "showing up where we have been told for the last 30 years it wouldn't show up," including berries and prickly rose shrubs.
Although glyphosate is also used by some industries and in the agriculture sector, Corbett advised the committee to focus on the herbicide's largest user: the forest industry.
Asked by Natural Resources Minister Mike Holland to clarify the concentration levels found in areas she described to the committee, Corbett cautioned against "getting distracted" when discussing glyphosate use in forests as opposed to in agriculture.
"We're not growing food, we're growing paper, tissue paper," she said. "And farmers don't spray from helicopters."
'It's like Groundhog Day': Coon
Corbett also urged the committee to listen to the general public, noting that more than 35,000 New Brunswickers have signed petitions asking the government to phase out glyphosate use.
"People in New Brunswick care about their forests, and you've got to trust them," she said.
Green Party Leader David Coon expressed concern about the new findings Corbett presented, including the "ever-growing body of evidence" around the risks of glyphosate use.
He was equally troubled by what he said is an often-repeated pattern when it comes to pesticide studies.
"It's kind of like that movie Groundhog Day," he said, a reference to a movie in which a weatherman finds himself inexplicably living the same day over and over again.
"The evidence starts to mount that there are problems with it ... and then the body of evidence finally reaches the point where government, the regulator, takes action and registers them or bans them," he said.
"We've seen that over and over and over with different pesticide products."
Farmers 'under attack'
Also addressing the committee Tuesday were representatives from Blueberries New Brunswick, which manages 35,000 hectares of blueberry farms in the province, as well as the Canadian Forest Service's Atlantic Forestry Centre and the environmental organization Group Ecovie, which has called for an end to glyphosate use in New Brunswick.
Blueberries New Brunswick board member Lane Stewart told the committee he worries that farmers are "under attack" due to misinformation, fearmongers and "false news."
- New Brunswick pushes blueberry plan as industry faces price crash
Blueberry farm seeks water source after extreme weather devastated its crop
"New Brunswick's economy needs agriculture," Stewart said, noting "farms are declining in this province."
"Farmers are selling or abandoning their farms because the younger generation has no desire to take over. They are taught in schools that farmers are polluters," he said.
Stewart defended the responsible use of herbicides and said glyphosate has been "proven safe when properly used."
He explained that blueberry farmers are extremely conscientious about when the herbicide is applied – when starting a new farm, and not when there are blueberries on the bushes – and are mindful of the importance of bees and other wildlife whose health is vital to their crop.
"If [glyphosate] is banned, what will happen to the blueberry?" Stewart asked. "We must follow the guidelines of Health Canada ... not impressionable science promoted on social media to scare the public."
The hearings, which are being live-streamed, continue Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, with presentations from the National Farmers Union in N.B., Forest NB, Rod Cumberland, Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency and others.
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N.B. forests have dodged a devastating infestation bullet, insect expert says
Targeted use of insecticide curbed spruce budworm outbreak, committee told on Day 2 of pesticide hearings
Swift action and the strategic use of a biological insecticide have spared New Brunswick forests the worst of a feared outbreak, Atlantic forestry experts say.
A spruce budworm infestation that swept the province in the 1970s, causing much deforestation and leaving the forestry industry reeling, was poised for a repeat attack in 2016.
But on day two of four days of hearings into pesticide use in the province, Canadian Forest Service insect ecologist Rob Johns said the insecticide BTK has blunted the blow this time around.
Johns said the service adopted a targeted, early-intervention strategy, using the narrow spectrum insecticide to stay on top of "hotspots" as they erupt.
- Scientist 'shocked' by results of strategy to halt spruce budworm infestation
- As spruce budworm numbers rise, so does the battle against them — except in Gros Morne
It has been a challenge staying ahead of the much worse infestation in nearby Quebec, Johns said, but it's working.
"Under this early intervention strategy, we've seen no tree mortality and only light defoliation," he said, adding "a little intervention goes a very long way."
In addition, he said, the product poses no health threats and has been approved for use in organic farming.
Rob Johns, right, of the Atlantic Forestry Centre says strategic application of the herbicide BTK has spared the province's forests from the worst of a spruce budworm infestation. At left is Drew Carleton, with the Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development. (Government of New Brunswick)
"What effect is your spraying on the human population?" Liberal committee member Jacques LeBlanc asked.
"Zero effect," Johns said. "All the tests that they've done for BTK, there's been no level at which there has been concerns associated with BTK. There is no toxicity to it. … These insecticides are safe, very little needed and public are generally accepting of them."
Natural Resources Minister Mike Holland thanked Johns and Drew Carleton, of the Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development, for their work in heading off a repeat of the spruce budworm outbreak of the late '70s.
"For those of us who are old enough to remember, that was devastating," Holland said.
New Brunswick National Farmers Union executive director Suzanne Fournier appears by video link at the standing committee on climate change and environment stewardship on Wednesday. (Government of New Brunswick)
Farmers union calls for phaseout of chemicals
The committee also heard from Suzanne Fournier, the New Brunswick National Farmers Union executive director, who called for a total ban on aerial spraying of glyphosate in forests and a phasing out of the use of synthetic chemicals in agriculture.
She also asked the committee to investigate the links between chemical use and illnesses in the province.
Our farmers are making less at the end of the day because they are paying to use these chemicals, and this is going to drive agriculture into the ground.
- Suzanne Fournier, National Farmers Union in N.B.
Fournier said her organization supports the use of natural pest-management alternatives, including crop rotation, cover cropping and selecting crops suited for particular regions.
Committee member and People's Alliance MLA Michelle Conroy asked Fournier if she thinks it's possible for farmers to keep weeds under control and still turn a profit using these alternatives to glyphosate-based herbicides.
"Yes, absolutely," Fournier said. "Our farmers are making less at the end of the day because they are paying to use these chemicals, and this is going to drive agriculture into the ground if we continue at the rate that we are."
Fournier faced pointed questions from several other members on the committee, including LeBlanc, who asked "what scientific community" she was getting her information from, and whether she had a scientific background.
"I should start by stating that I represent the farmers union but the information is of course assembled from the scientists, which I am not," Fournier said, noting she has a background in political science.
Fournier said she was referencing scientific papers, journals and reports, as well as a 2014 report to the chief medical officer of health in New Brunswick.
The committee also heard from biology professors from Oregon State University and from the University of New Brunswick on Wednesday.
The hearings, which are being live-streamed, continue Thursday and Friday, with presentations from Forest NB, Rod Cumberland, Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency and others.
Corrections
- This story has been edited from a previous version that stated Drew Carleton is an employee with Canadian Forest Service. In fact he now works for the Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development.Jun 24, 2021 9:53 AM AT
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/glyphosate-herbicide-cumberland-hearings-1.6078282
Debate over glyphosate heats up as Rod Cumberland, farmers group make their case
Standoff over whether controversial herbicide should be banned continues on Day 3 of pesticide hearings
Glyphosate was once again at the centre of a tug-of-war on Thursday, with speakers drawing deep lines in the sand over whether it should be banned in New Brunswick.
On day three of hearings into the province's use of herbicides and pesticides, environmental stewardship committee members heard conflicting information from presenters, some of whom cited the same scientific reports but with completely opposite interpretations.
Rod Cumberland, a biologist who has alleged he was fired from his teaching job at Maritime College of Forest Technology in 2019 for sharing his views about glyphosate, noted "there are biased perspectives on both sides" of the debate.
In his presentation at the hearings, Cumberland said he hoped to help the committee understand why there are two starkly different points of view about glyphosate use.
- READ MORE on this week's hearings:
- Day 1: Glyphosate takes centre stage as pesticide hearings get underway in N.B.
- Day 2: N.B. forests have dodged a devastating infestation bullet, insect expert says
"Point number one: This is not about glyphosate," he said. "The confusion begins by focusing on the active ingredient glyphosate ... That's what Health Canada evaluated. That's what the province has become fixated on."
All roads lead to Health Canada, but is that the right road?
- Rod Cumberland, addressing pesticide hearings
The problem, he said, is that the chemical is never sold or sprayed as glyphosate alone.
The amount of active ingredient may be comparable, "but the devil is in the details" of the remaining 60 per cent of the toxic substances in the formulation, such as arsenic and lead.
"New Brunswick uses the most toxic formulation available [when spraying forests], because it kills competing hardwood the best," Cumberland said. "Why is that? Because everything hinges on the annual allowable cut."
Cumberland questions Health Canada's findings
The spraying has taken a toll on the deer population by eliminating tons of their food, said Cumberland, who noted he has seen lower birth rates and physical deformities in deer, which he blames on ingesting glyphosate-treated feed.
Cumberland also addressed the stock put in Health Canada's review of glyphosate.
- Fired instructor's views on glyphosate at root of dismissal, says former colleague
- Forestry professor was fired for harassment and discrimination, college says
The federal agency concluded in 2019 that the concerns raised by objectors could not be scientifically supported and said "no pesticide regulatory authority in the world" considers glyphosate to be a cancer risk at the levels at which humans are currently exposed.
That conclusion is often cited by groups arguing in favour of glyphosate use.
But Cumberland questioned that finding, and referred instead to a 2015 International Agency for Research on Cancer report that classified glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans."
"All roads lead to Health Canada, but is that the right road?" he asked. "Is glyphosate carcinogenic or not? ... Health Canada will spend a lot of time tomorrow trying to debunk this."
A representative of Health Canada is scheduled to appear before the hearings on Friday.
Agriculture group cautions against ban
But representatives of the Agricultural Alliance of New Brunswick, who spoke before Cumberland, took a diametrically opposed stand.
They argued that the cancer research report had been discredited and argued against a ban on glyphosate, saying it would cause further hardship to an already beleaguered agriculture sector.
"It's a very dangerous path that we are going down," alliance vice-president Christian Michaud said.
"Agriculture is not healthy in this province ... If New Brunswick is to move forward, we need to use every tool that is at our disposal because the countries and provinces around us will, and that will leave us at a serious disadvantage."
President Lisa Ashworth said glyphosate has been proven to be safe when used properly, and she cautioned against misinformation, biased statistics and non-expert advice.
Green Party Leader David Coon, who is on the environmental stewardship committee, asked Ashworth if her group flags emerging evidence of health risks with a product.
We have families, we are the first people eating the plants and drinking the milk.
- Lisa Ashworth, president of the Agricultural Alliance of N.B.
"The short answer is no," she said. "We're not going to take out a public announcement that says, 'We've read a paper and you should be worried.' ... We are not researchers. We leave that to the experts."
But neither do they take health risks lightly, she added, noting that farmers are on the front line of the controversy over chemicals.
"We have families, we are the first people eating the plants and drinking the milk. My three children, as I sit here and chat with you, are all working on our farm today," she said.
"I can guarantee you as a mom, if I didn't think it was safe, there would be a battle to the death with my husband. We don't do things we don't believe in."
The committee also heard Thursday from Stop Spraying NB and biology professors from the Université de Moncton on.Thursday.
The hearings, which are being live-streamed, will wrap up Friday with presentations from Forest NB, Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency and others.
Eel Ground First Nation forester makes surprise appearance at pesticide hearings
Not initially invited, Steve Ginnish asks to be included to bring Indigenous perspective to deliberations
The final day of hearings into New Brunswick's use of glyphosate took an emotional turn Friday when a member of the Eel Ground First Nation appeared before the committee.
Steve Ginnish, director of forestry for Eel Ground-based Mi'gmawe'l Tplu'taqnn Inc., noted he was a late addition to the hearings' agenda.
"We were not initially invited to participate in the hearings but felt it was important and necessary for you to hear an Indigenous perspective, so we asked to be added to the witness list," Ginnish said.
Ginnish outlined basic treaty rights and shared his frustration with the province's spraying of glyphosate, which he says has "directly affected our medicines, food supply and therefore the health of our community members."
Harvest practices the big issue, Ginnish says
"We have long argued that more consideration is given to industry when it comes to forest management than to the actual health of the forest," he said.
"Concerns about defoliation by insects and pests like the spruce budworm are nothing compared to how the forests are harvested, as far as we see it."
He also pointed out that the land and forests being debated by the committee are unceded.
"New Brunswick is unceded, unsurrendered territory of the Mi'kmaq, Wolastoqiyik and the Passamaquoddy people, historically known as the Wabanaki confederacy," he said.
"So when we talk about the natural forest, it's the Wabanaki forest. It's not the Acadian forest."
'Ancestors making their voices heard'
Ginnish, who wore an orange T-shirt bearing the words Every Child Matters, also referred to the discoveries of what are believed to be 1,000 unmarked graves at two former residential schools in Western Canada.
"You see the current events happening now, our ancestors are making their voice heard," Ginnish told the committee members, his voice breaking with emotion.
"And I hope this world wakes up — the greatest country in the world, as it's portrayed around the world. Well, some dirty closet secrets are coming out now."
- Sask. First Nation announces hundreds of unmarked graves found at former residential school site
- Catholic group to release all records from B.C. and Saskatchewan residential schools
Members of the committee thanked Ginnish for the lessons he shared, and many offered apologies.
"I'm sorry, personally, for what has happened," Carleton MLA Bill Hogan said.
Ginnish said he respected the sentiments but "it is nobody's fault in this room."
"Nobody in this room, in my opinion, needs to apologize, but we do need acknowledgement as to what state, religion and government have done to our people," he said.
"It's hard to see an institution that is the richest institution on the face of this earth … that is said to be the structure of forgiveness and understanding with respect to mankind as a whole, but you get nothing from them."
Mike Legere of Forest NB addresses hearings into pesticide and herbicide use in New Brunswick on Friday. (Government of New Brunswick)
Committee looks forward
What would it take to wean New Brunswick off glyphosate?
The question came up several times on the final day of hearings Friday, when the tone shifted from debate over the pros and cons of glyphosate to a more forward-looking approach to the province's use of the controversial herbicide.
Earlier in the week, representatives from the forestry and agriculture sector, environmental advocates and others made their case for or against pesticide use.
On Friday, committee members pushed for ideas about where New Brunswick goes from here.
Natural Resources Minister Mike Holland asked board members with Forest NB, the first presenters in the morning, why New Brunswick is "unique" in its dependence on herbicides such as glyphosate to manage its forests.
"Surely there are jurisdictions that operate a viable, economically sustainable forestry [industry] without herbicide," Holland said. "Because I have a hard time believing that we need that exclusively here to be successful in New Brunswick."
Natural Resources Minister Mike Holland asked Forest NB if there are other jurisdictions that have developed a strong forestry industry without depending on herbicides. (Government of New Brunswick)
Forest NB board member Mike Legere said that Scandinavian countries, including Sweden, Finland and Norway, have done so.
However, he said, those jurisdictions have different forest types and have invested much more heavily in forestry management and timber production.
"They are probably 200 years ahead of us in terms of silviculture," Legere said.
Committee member and People's Alliance MLA Michelle Conroy asked Legere about reports that have linked glyphosate to carcinogenic risk and said she thinks more study is needed.
"My biggest concern is there are no studies if it's in the water, if it's in the food, if it's in the dust we're inhaling when we're driving along the trails."
Legere disagreed.
"There's a difference between a study and monitoring," he said. "I don't disagree with some of the comments from past presenters, and maybe we should be monitoring. But studies? It's been studied to death."
The hearings, which also heard from Health Canada pesticide agency representatives and an Albert County farmer, Moranda Van Geest, who opposes glyphosate use, wrapped up in the afternoon.
The committee will now review the presentations and deliver recommendations to the Legislature.
READ MORE ON THE FOUR-DAY HEARINGS
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/glyphosate-herbicide-maine-1.6084636
Maine governor accused of being 'too close' to industry after vetoing bill to ban glyphosate spraying
Maine Gov. Janet Mills has vetoed a bill that would have banned aerial spraying of glyphosate
A controversial herbicide used in the forestry industry hasn't just stirred debate in New Brunswick in recent days.
The Maine legislature approved a bill earlier this month to ban the aerial spraying of synthetic herbicides such as glyphosate, but on Friday, Gov. Janet Mills vetoed the legislation, arguing that limited spraying of the herbicide is an "integral tool" for the state's forestry companies.
Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, who introduced the bill, said he thinks the veto shows the governor is "too close to the industry" and ignoring evidence that suggests glyphosate, found in the popular weed killer Roundup, could be carcinogenic.
"To be honest, I think the governor is too close to the industry," Jackson, a fifth-generation logger from Allagash, Maine, said Tuesday on CBC's Information Morning Fredericton.
"[Gov. Mills] said that she was basing it on science. I said, well, that is absolutely incorrect. Science actually tells us that we should be banning it."
The veto coincided with the end of a four-day hearing in the New Brunswick Legislature on the use of herbicides and pesticides, which glyphosate became a key focus of with proponents and opponents making arguments before the environmental stewardship committee.
The synthetic herbicide, which is used by forestry companies in New Brunswick and Maine to help cultivate specific trees, has prompted debate, studies and lawsuits around the world over concerns that it could be carcinogenic. Arsenic and lead in the spray are also a concern to critics.
Last June, Bayer AG, the company that produces Roundup, agreed to pay as much as $10.9 billion US to settle thousands of U.S. lawsuits claiming that its widely used weed killer caused cancer.
Mills was not made available for an interview Tuesday, and instead, her press secretary shared the veto message Mills delivered to the legislature.
In it, she said she supported increasing the buffers and setbacks between areas where herbicides are sprayed in relation to protected wetlands, water bodies and wildlife habitat, but couldn't support Jackson's proposed "blanket prohibition" of aerial glyphosate spraying.
"For Maine's large forest landowners seeking to improve the growth of desirable tree species and control competition of undesirable species, such as disease-prone beech, limited spraying of herbicides is an integral tool," Mills said.
She also said the area of forest being sprayed was small, with less than five per cent of Maine's forested areas receiving such treatment in 2018.
Glyphosate, a synthetic herbicide, is used by forestry companies in New Brunswick and Maine to help cultivate specific trees. (CBC)
Jackson said he thinks Mills's stance on the herbicide has been shaped by companies such as JD Irving Ltd., which uses glyphosate as part of its forestry operations in both New Brunswick and Maine.
"The Irving company owns most of the land in my area," Jackson said.
"They are the one that sprays the most, but there's other landowners, too. I mean, they've all banded together against this [bill]. You know, they've made the argument that it's … going to cost jobs."
No one from JDI was available for an interview Tuesday, but in an email, Anne McInerney, spokesperson for the company, said it's proud of its responsible science-based forest management and is open to discussing with stakeholders the benefits of its approach as it relates to the climate, conservation, the economy and producing forest products.
Jackson said the bill will return to the Maine Senate for a veto override vote, however but it would need to earn the support of two-thirds of the members in the Senate and the House of Representatives.
"So it basically is dead," he said.
With files from Information Morning Fredericton