Voluntary Incident Reporting

If you require emergency medical care, call 911. For medical assistance, contact your local Poison Control Center.

In the event of an environmental emergency, immediately notify your local authorities (police or fire department) or contact the Canadian Environmental Emergencies Notification System.

On this page:

• What is a pesticide incident?
• Why report a pesticide incident?
• What happens to the information provided?
• How to report a pesticide incident
• Additional Resources
• Related Resources

What is a pesticide incident?

A pesticide incident is any unintended or unexpected effect to human health, domestic animal health or the environment, resulting from exposure to, or use of, a pesticide.

A pesticide incident could be the result of intentional or accidental misuse of a pesticide product. However, adverse effects that occur as a result of an act or activity that would constitute an offence under the Criminal Code (e.g., attempted suicide) are not included.

Further information can be found in the fact sheet Reporting Pesticide Incidents.

Why report a pesticide incident?

Although all pesticides are carefully evaluated for safety before they can be registered, some adverse effects may not become evident until the pesticide is used under "real-life" circumstances. By submitting a suspected pesticide incident report, you are contributing to the ongoing collection of information on pesticides after they have been registered.

Incident reports help Health Canada to identify any potential risks to health or the environment from the use of pesticides and to take corrective actions when necessary.

You do not have to be certain that a pesticide caused the effect in order to report it; pesticide incident reports can be suspected associations.

Health Canada encourages persons who believe they are experiencing adverse effects related to a pesticide to consult the instructions on the pesticide label and contact their health care provider or poison control centre.

What happens to the information provided?

All pesticide incidents that meet the criteria mentioned below are entered in the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) database, and are posted to the Health Canada PMRA electronic Public Registry. Personal information protected under the Privacy Act (e.g., name, age, gender, etc.) is not included in the Public Registry.

The PMRA database is regularly searched for any type of pattern related to a specific pesticide. If the result of a search indicates that there is a trend, such as repeated effects or multiple incidents for a particular pesticide, Health Canada evaluates the information in conjunction with scientific literature. If evaluation of this information identifies a safety issue, appropriate action is taken. Such action can range from minor label changes to discontinuation of the product.

How to report a pesticide incident

Report any incident related to a pesticide to the manufacturer using the contact information available on the pesticide label. Manufacturers are required by law to report to Health Canada any incident information they receive related to their product.

You may also report an incident directly to Health Canada by completing the appropriate form(s) for the public below, and sending it by mail to the address on the form.

Assistance in completing forms for the public is available by calling:

• 1-800-267-6315 within Canada
• 1-613-736-3799 outside of Canada (Long distance charges apply)

Please note that the submission of a report does not confirm that the adverse effects experienced are due to a pesticide.

The following criteria are necessary for the PMRA to consider the incident:

• the name of the product, registration number, or active ingredient (available on the product label) must be clearly identified;
• a description of the effect must be included; and
• the incident must be reported by someone who observed it.

There are four forms available for reporting pesticide incidents to Health Canada. Please use the appropriate form, depending on the type of incident experienced. For example, if a human and a dog were accidentally sprayed with a pesticide while out walking, and they experienced red eyes, then both the Human Health and Domestic Animal reporting forms should be filled out and submitted.

Domestic animals are any animals under the control of and dependent upon humans for survival.

For further definitions:

• Definitions - Pesticide Incident Reporting for the Public

The Pesticide Voluntary Incident Reporting Forms for the Public are:

• Domestic Animal Incident
• Environmental Incident
• Human Health Incident
• Packaging Failure Incident

Additional Resources

Information for Registrants and Applicants - Mandatory Incident Reporting

If you want to report an adverse reaction or a problem about another type of product, please visit Health Canada's Adverse Reaction Reporting web page.

Fact Sheet on Reporting Pesticide Incidents

Related Resources

Some of the following hyperlinks are to sites of organizations or other entities that are not subject to the Official Languages Act. The material found there is therefore in the language(s) used by the sites in question.

Recognition and Management of Pesticide Poisonings

Report a pest control product adverse effect that occurred in the United States directly to the US manufacturer or to the National Pesticide Information Center, 1-800-858-7378