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 * A "pesticide" is anything used to kill pests, while a "pest" is anything humans don't want around.
 *  "Pesticide" is a broad classification which includes insecticides (to kill insects), herbicides (to kill plants), fungicides (to kill funguses), and rodenticides (to kill rodents).
 *  Chemicals used in pesticides are non-specific, and, depending on the dose and accuracy of delivery, will kill unintended along with targeted species.
 *  They can be composed of biological substances or synthetic toxic chemicals.
 * This fact sheet deals specifically with toxic, synthetic pesticides.
 * Pesticides must receive registration from the federal government, under the //Pest Control Products Act//, in order to be used in Canada.
 * Recently, the federal registration process was moved from Agriculture Canada to Health Canada.
 * The office of the "Pest Management Regulatory Agency", now under the jurisdiction of Health Canada, receives input from Environment Canada, Agriculture Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
 * A province cannot decide to use a chemical if the federal government has not registered it.
 * A province does have its own registration process however, and can effectively ban the use of a pesticide in its own jurisdiction even though it has been approved in Ottawa.
 * This happened in the case of 2,4,5 -T, which had been banned in the U.S., Sweden and many other countries, but was registered for use in Canada by the federal government.
 * In the early 1980's the provinces of Ontario, Saskatchewan and Quebec made independent decisions not to allow its use in those provinces.
 * Of course, each pesticides is different and can provoke very different concerns.
 *  For instance, the widely used fumigant methyl bromide, in addition to being extremely poisonous and responsible for many deaths due to occupational exposure, is responsible for between five and ten percent of worldwide ozone depletion.
 * Banning methyl bromide is essential if we are to protect the ozone layer which protects all living things from the sun's harmful rays. Canada has committed to phasing out methyl bromide by 2001.
 * But mostly, pesticide use is associated with two things: toxicity in the environment and causing human health problems.