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CVMA Comments on Health Canada's consultation on "Humane Vertebrate Pest Control"
Nov 5, 2021
The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) comments on Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency consultation on "Humane Vertebrate Pest Control" (https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/hc-sc/documents/services/consumer-product-safety/pesticides-pest-management/public/consultations/humane-vertebrate-pest-control/humane-vertebrate-pest-control.pdf)
CVMA reiterated its position on Pest Control:
“The use of inhumane methods of pest control should not be condoned. Examples of physical methods include “denning” (pouring kerosene into a den and igniting) to control coyotes and wolves; drowning, and the use of sticky boards for rodent control.
The ingestion of some pesticides [e.g., strychnine, Compound 1080 (sodium fluoroacetate), Avitrol (4-Aminopyridine), and Furadan (flowable carbofuran)], results in severe pain, uncontrollable seizures, and death by asphyxiation.
- Commonly used rodenticides (anticoagulants, zinc phosphide, cholecalciferol analogues) are not considered humane as they cause considerable direct physiologic damage, prolonged suffering, and/or pain.”
CVMA strongly believes that “humaneness considerations” are an essential part of the registration process.
CVMA requests that the Pest Management Regulatory Agency create further opportunities for organizations such as ours, with access to experts in humaneness and animal welfare, to help develop an effective policy to prohibit the registration of inhumane pesticides.