Streams that run through Prince Edward Island’s potato country are contaminated with levels of an environmentally-destructive pesticide that exceed federal safety regulations, Canada’s National Observer has found.
Half of the creekside testing sites in the province that have been routinely tested since 2022 contain levels of the neonicotinoid pesticide, clothianidin, in amounts up to 4.5 times greater than the government’s safety thresholds, ministry data show. No enforcement action has been taken yet.
The excessive levels have prompted further investigation by the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA), the federal body responsible for pesticide regulation and enforcement in Canada, a spokesperson for PEI’s ministry of environment, energy and climate action said in a statement.
