Image Credit: FACEBOOK: Tide
June 28, 2025 - 12:00 PM
A BC contractor that used Tide laundry detergent to remove moss from a condo building's roof has sparked a legal battle between the province and an arms length environment appeal board.
The question is: Is Tide laundry detergent a pesticide?
While the BC Environmental Appeal Board said it wasn't, provincial bureaucrats involved with the Integrated Pest Management Act say it is, and argued for a judicial review of the matter.
The issues comes about after MKY Holdings used Tide detergent to remove moss from the roof of a 98-unit Abbotsford condo building.
Heavy rain caused the detergent to run into a nearby creek causing foam and bubbles six feet high.
The company owner Mark Van Rumpt said he put 290 kilograms of granular Tide detergent on the roofs of the property. He expected it to rain soon afterwards, which would activate the detergent to kill the root system of the moss.
It's not clear whether his plan worked, but he was later fined $8,900 for breaching the Integrated Pest Management Act.
Van Rumpt appealed the fine and the BC Environmental Appeal Board sided with him.
The Appeal Board ruled Tide detergent wasn't a pesticide and therefore he couldn't be fined under the Integrated Pest Management Act.
The administrator of the Integrated Pest Management Act disagreed and took the case to the BC Supreme Court.
In a June 11, BC Supreme Court decision Justice Kevin Loo parsed through the legislation that defines what a pesticide is.
"In the (legislation) 'pesticide' means 'a micro-organism or material that is represented, sold, used or intended to be used to prevent, destroy, repel or mitigate a pest.' In applying this definition to the case at bar, the administrator focuses on the word 'used' and submits that detergent is a 'material' that is 'used' to prevent, destroy, repel or mitigate a pest," Justice Loo said.
The Environmental Appeal Board said that an "incredibly broad number" of substances could be captured by the definition "pesticide" and the regulations were intended to regulate substances which have "unacceptable potential risks" to the environment or human health.
However, the Justice said this didn't take into consideration the plain language of the legislation and it wasn't for the Appeal Board to "disregard or rewrite the law."
After a thorough analysis of the Integrated Pest Management Act, the Justice said the Appeal Board decision to wipe the fine was unreasonable.
However, the Justice didn't rule on whether Tide is a pesticide or not but sent the issue back to the BC Environmental Appeal Board to decide.
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