The Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) of Health Canada is responsible for registering and reviewing crop protection products in Canada to ensure they meet standards for human health and environmental protection. This includes both the addition of new products to the marketplace by registrant companies as well as periodic reviews of existing products to ensure they continue to meet current standards. Existing products are reviewed every 15 years under the re-evaluation stream or upon identification of new critical information in the case of a special review. The following is an update on key active ingredients undergoing reviews or have been newly proposed for registration in 2025.
New registration activity
The Registration Directorate of PMRA is responsible for reviewing applications for new active ingredients in Canada. To date in 2025, a total of four new active ingredients has been proposed for registration: Flg22-Bt peptide, metamitron, cyclobutrifluram and fluoxapiprolin.
Flg22-Bt peptide represents a new mode of action in the class of fungicides known as host plant defence inducers. These substances interact with existing biological defence mechanisms to activate certain biochemical pathways and turn on genes in plants. It is comparable to boosting a plant’s immune system to prepare for a future threat. There are several registered products already in this area such as acibenzolar-S-methyl (Actigard), Bacillus mycoides isolate J (LifeGard), and extract of Reynoutria sachalinensis (Regalia). These defence inducer substances can be either biological or synthetic in origin. FLG22-Bt peptide is synthetically produced but is also naturally occurring as a component of Bacillus thuringiensis or Bt. It is now registered in Canada as Vismax for Fusarium suppression on soybean seed and head blight of wheat and may potentially be expanded to other crops.
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