Submission to the City of Edmonton IPM Review

The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) submitted a statement to the City of Edmonton on February 10, 2019, urging the city to strengthen its Integrated Pest Management (IPM) policy. CAPE argues that the current policy fails to adequately address human health risks, particularly for children, and recommends a formal policy to eliminate the routine use of toxic pesticides in city-managed spaces and the enactment of a bylaw to restrict non-essential pesticide use on residential and private properties.

• The City of Edmonton's Integrated Pest Management (IPM) policy, which is approximately 15 years old, lacks an explicit acknowledgement of the human health risks associated with pesticide exposure. While a herbicide ban was implemented in 2015, it contains exemptions that allow toxic pesticides to be used in cemeteries, on golf courses, sports fields, and high-profile parks, including the green space surrounding City Hall.
• Children are identified as the most at risk group regarding pesticide exposure. Potential health dangers include birth defects such as cleft palate, childhood cancers like brain cancer and leukemia, learning disabilities, hormonal disruption, and deficits in cognitive and motor development, as well as pre-term births and low birth weight.
• Adults exposed to pesticides face increased risks of various health conditions, including diabetes, asthma, obstructive lung disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson’s disease, and specific cancers such as leukemia, cutaneous melanoma, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
• CAPE asserts that approval from Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) is not a sufficient guarantee of safety. The organization cites flaws in the regulatory process, such as reliance on non-independent industry studies, a lack of data on chronic low-dose exposure, and the failure to test full product formulations (which may be more toxic than active ingredients alone). Additionally, the PMRA is reported to be behind on required 15-year re-evaluations of registered pesticides.
• CAPE recommends that the City of Edmonton formalize a policy to eliminate the routine use of toxic pesticides for larval mosquito control and in city-managed green spaces and parks. Furthermore, it urges the city to enact a bylaw restricting non-essential toxic pesticide use on privately owned lawns and gardens, noting that Alberta is one of only two provinces without such provincial laws or multiple municipal bylaws.
• The document highlights a lack of transparency regarding the use of chlorpyrifos for larval mosquito control on the City of Edmonton's website. CAPE notes that the State of California has implemented regulatory responses due to concerns that chlorpyrifos affects children's brain development.

APA

Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (2019). Submission to the City of Edmonton IPM Review. https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/CAPE-brief-to-Edmonton-IPM-review-February-2019.pdf

Chicago

Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. Submission to the City of Edmonton IPM Review. 2019. https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/CAPE-brief-to-Edmonton-IPM-review-February-2019.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment |title=Submission to the City of Edmonton IPM Review |date=10 February 2019 |url=https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/CAPE-brief-to-Edmonton-IPM-review-February-2019.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{canadianassociationofphysiciansfortheenvironment2019submission, author = {{Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment}}, title = {{Submission to the City of Edmonton IPM Review}}, publisher = {Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment}, year = {2019}, month = feb, url = {https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/CAPE-brief-to-Edmonton-IPM-review-February-2019.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }