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Moreover, the agency didn’t effectively communicate new information on pesticide risks to Canadians, the report says.

Overall, the Pest Management Regulatory Agency is failing to properly re-evaluate some of the 7,000 pest control products available for use in Canada, and “did not assess their cumulative effects on human health,” the report says.

The agency had made “insufficient progress” in re-evaluating whether the health and environmental risks for older pesticides “remain within acceptable limits,” the report says, despite these re-evaluations almost always leading to additional safety measures.

The Pest Management Regulatory Agency is required to re-evaluate the safety of registered pesticides every 15 years. About 95 per cent of the agency’s re-evaluations result in additional precautions to protect human health or the environment, the report says.

During the commissioner’s audit, the agency completed 14 re-evaluations per year, but by the end of the audit, more than six times that number remained incomplete.

“With more re-evaluations due to start each year, the Agency needs to quicken its pace to prevent unacceptable risks to people and the environment from the unsafe use of pesticides,” Gelfand said.

As well, the agency has permitted conditionally registered pesticides to be used for longer than would normally be allowed without having assessed relevant studies and data related to their safety, the report concludes.