Lindane: Ottawa faces
suit over banned pesticide - U.S. chemical maker uses NAFTA section
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Subject: Lindane - Ottawa Faces Suit Over Banned Pesticide
Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 11:56:10 -0500
From: Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
The Globe and Mail
Ottawa faces suit over banned pesticide
U.S. chemical maker uses NAFTA section
By STEVEN CHASE
OTTAWA -- A
major U.S. chemical maker is using NAFTA to sue the Canadian government for
$100-million (U.S.) for recently banning the use of a canola pesticide the
company has sold here for years.
Connecticut-based Crompton Corp., which had $3-billion in
sales last year, recently filed a notice under the North American free-trade
agreement saying it intends to take action against Ottawa to reverse the ban and
seek compensation for lost business.
The federal government, which has been reviewing the health
and environmental effects of the chemical lindane for close to three years,
banned its use as a treatment for canola seed this past summer.
"By banning the use of [the] lindane product after
July 1, 2001, and by failing to live up to its undertaking to conduct a review
of lindane, the government has taken measures tantamount to expropriation,"
Crompton said in a NAFTA filing last month.
"There is no scientific basis for banning the use of
the lindane product for canola seeds as there is no conclusive scientific
evidence that such action is necessary to protect human health or the
environment," the company said.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which has called
lindane a possible human carcinogen, is currently completing another review of
the chemical.
Health Canada, also still scrutinizing lindane, said in
1999 that "many unanswered questions remain regarding the potential impact
on humans and wildlife" of various strains of the chemical.
NAFTA's controversial Chapter 11 section allows foreign
companies to sue Ottawa for compensation if their investments in Canada have
been hurt by Canadian laws or regulations.
Under NAFTA, Crompton and Ottawa must try for 90 days to
work out a compromise before Crompton can take the issue further.
But after that, if Crompton and Ottawa have no deal,
Crompton can ask for a binding arbitration panel to decide whether the federal
government has to pay the $100-million in damages.
Oussamah Tamim, with Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs
and International Trade, said Ottawa is studying the claim and looking to see
whether Crompton intends to press forward with it.
"It's not the first time there would be notice of
intent and there would be no follow-through."
Crompton officials said Friday they hope to reach a deal
with Ottawa.
Canada moved to ban the use of lindane for canola seed
treatment after it became an issue in trade relations with the United States,
which forbids its use on canola. Washington had warned Ottawa in 1998 that it
would block imports of crops treated with pesticides not allowed for use in the
United States.
American canola growers, already prevented by U.S. law from
using the chemical to treat their seed, had complained that the higher cost of
lindane substitutes gave their Canadian counterparts an unfair competitive
advantage.
The Canadian government arranged for a voluntary withdrawal
of the chemical by producers -- an agreement that Crompton alleges Ottawa has
reneged on.
Crompton said it stopped making lindane products at the end
of 1999 pending the completion by Ottawa of a scientific assessment of the
chemical. The assessment was expected to be finished by December, 2000, but is
still not complete.
The company says it has received no explanation as to why
the review is not finished.
Source url: http://www.globeandmail.com/
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