Submission to the City of Calgary IPM Review Avoiding Pesticide Health Risks in Calgary

The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) submitted a briefing to the City of Calgary in December 2018, arguing that the city's Integrated Pest Management (IPM) plan is insufficient to protect public health. CAPE recommends that the City of Calgary eliminate the routine use of toxic pesticides in city-managed spaces and enact a municipal bylaw restricting non-essential pesticide use on residential and private lawns.

• CAPE argues that Calgary's current IPM plan, which is approximately 20 years old, fails in practice despite policy statements committing to minimize risks to human health. The organization notes that toxic pesticides such as glyphosate, dicamba, mecoprop, and 2,4-D are used for weed control in Calgary while being banned for those purposes in other Canadian jurisdictions.
• Children are identified as the most vulnerable population to pesticide exposure due to their physical development, behavior, and proximity to the ground. Reported risks include childhood cancers (leukemia and brain cancer), birth defects like cleft palate, learning disabilities, and deficits in cognitive and motor development.
• In adults, exposure to pesticides is associated with an increased risk of several serious conditions, including diabetes, asthma, obstructive lung disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson’s disease, and various cancers such as leukemia, cutaneous melanoma, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
• CAPE contends that approval from Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) is not a sufficient guarantee of safety. They cite flaws such as reliance on non-peer-reviewed industry studies, a failure to test full product formulations (testing only active ingredients), and significant delays in the mandatory 15-year re-evaluation process.
• The document highlights a specific concern regarding glyphosate, noting that internal Monsanto Company documents revealed in a 2018 California court case raised questions about the evidence used in the PMRA's 2017 re-evaluation of the pesticide.
• CAPE recommends that the City of Calgary adopt a corporate policy restricting toxic pesticides in city-managed green spaces and enact a municipal bylaw to restrict non-essential use on residential and private lawns, noting that Alberta is one of only two provinces lacking such provincial or widespread municipal restrictions.

APA

Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (2018). Submission to the City of Calgary IPM Review Avoiding Pesticide Health Risks in Calgary. https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/CAPE-brief-to-Calgary-IPM-review-December-2018.pdf

Chicago

Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. Submission to the City of Calgary IPM Review Avoiding Pesticide Health Risks in Calgary. 2018. https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/CAPE-brief-to-Calgary-IPM-review-December-2018.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment |title=Submission to the City of Calgary IPM Review Avoiding Pesticide Health Risks in Calgary |date=19 December 2018 |url=https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/CAPE-brief-to-Calgary-IPM-review-December-2018.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{canadianassociationofphysiciansfortheenvironment2018submission, author = {{Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment}}, title = {{Submission to the City of Calgary IPM Review Avoiding Pesticide Health Risks in Calgary}}, institution = {Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment}, year = {2018}, month = dec, url = {https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/CAPE-brief-to-Calgary-IPM-review-December-2018.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }