We ask that the Canadian Government stop testing already known dangerous pesticides on thousands of innocent animals.
Hon. Ujjal Dosanjh, Minister of Health Canada,
What Canada needs is to ban chemicals that are already known to be dangerous. Instead Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) keeps demanding more animal testing, even though more than 10,000 animals have already been killed for every pesticide on the market.
PMRA is demanding a new test called a "developmental neurotoxicity" test, which supposedly gauges a pesticide's effects on the developing nervous systems of animals who are exposed to a chemical while in the womb. This test consumes upwards of 2,000 animals at a time. What's more, government scientists have admitted that they are not even sure how to interpret the results of this test!
Canadians, and the world, believe that stopping these tests makes good sense and good science.
These animal tests are outdated. We urge PMRA/Health Canada to regulate pesticides and other chemicals that are already known to be dangerous-not to torture innocent animals. Mr. Dosanjh, your Department should be doing much more to reduce its reliance on animal testing, including funding the development of NON-ANIMAL test methods. We do not want our taxpayers' dollars to be used to inflict suffering on animals. Stop testing chemicals and pesticides on animals now!
