July 31, 2008

The poo-lluted shark that’s closing Ontario beaches

Filed under: water — Editor @ 10:44 am

We’re having some strange weather this summer in southern Ontario.  Record rainfalls.  Localized flooding.  Reports of Tornadoes.  All this after near record snowfalls this winter. While most of this has done great things for my garden, the extreme weather events are wreaking havoc on lakes and rivers, and have briefly closed beaches in cities across Ontario, including Ottawa and Toronto.

This is why people don’t think they can enjoy beaches in our communities. Every once and a while a big storm event washes nasty chemicals and bacteria into the swimming areas, and the influx of water kicks up pollutants settled on the lake and riverbeds causing folks to run from the water.  Even if nature quickly deals with the problem naturally, our perceptions are often much more resistant to change and we stay away in fear.     

And this is only the beginning.  If climate change experts are right, then we can expect sever storms events to become more common and beach closures to be more frequent.  More severe storms bring intense rains. Intense rains over short periods of time contribute to higher levels of pollution into our waterways.  More pollution means increased health threats and fewer days at the beach.

It’s sad really. The one place (the beach) where most children experience one of Canada’s vast natural resources (freshwater) is being ruined by another one of nature’s most important gifts (rain).  But it’s not nature’s fault.  We are the ones contributing to the pollution and keeping our kids out of the water.  We’ve destroyed the natural flow of things and without action, the problem will only get worse.

And where is our government?  Last week in Ontario, a huge new infrastructure deal with the federal government was announced that does not mention critical wastewater and stormwater repairs and improvements.  

Action must be taken to protect our water and beaches, and limit closures that ruin summer days and our chance to bond with our rivers and lakes.  We can all do things at home that can help, but governments need to make the big investments and laws that will have a lasting impact.

Check with a local health authority to see if a beach is safe for swimming, or check out  www.blueflag.ca for a Blue Flag beach near you.  Blue Flag is the international standard for sustainable beaches tracking not only water quality, but the protection of natural ecosystems and providing onsite services and gives us one examples of how communities are working together to protect our beaches.

Mike Layton - Project Coordinator, Environmental Defence

July 13, 2008

Toxic Chemicals in Products: Federal Action Needed

Filed under: toxics — Editor @ 8:54 pm

Despite the upsurge in public concern for environmental and health issues, Canada has one of the western world’s most outdated systems for controlling toxic chemicals in consumer products.  And an increasing amount of the toxic load in our bodies comes from everyday household items like vinyl shower curtains, plastic baby bottles and reusable water bottles, consumer electronics, and non-stick cookware.

Passed in 1968, the Hazardous Products Act was scarcely talked about in recent months when lead was found in alarming levels in children’s toys, or when chemicals that pose developmental risks for children were found in plastic baby bottles.  Yet this law is the federal government’s preferred legal tool for dealing with toxins in consumer goods.

It’s easy to see why few wanted to talk about what the government could do under the Act.  Unlike Europe and the United States, Canada doesn’t even have the power to issue a mandatory recall of a product.  The government is restricted to asking companies nicely, or issuing often invisible warnings to consumers.  These voluntary measures usually follow more decisive action that has already been taken in other countries. 

In the United States, if a company is made aware of a hazard in one of its products, there is a legal requirement to notify the government.  Companies in Canada have no such obligation. 

Fines in Canada are in the range of $5,000 — barely petty cash for major manufacturers and importers.  U.S. fines for similar infractions are $1 million, and in Europe, fines can be up to 5 percent of a company’s revenues. 

The government’s new Consumer Product Safety Act would fill many of these regulatory gaps, providing the power to issue recalls and raising fines to a maximum of $5 million.  It would require manufacturers and importers to track information about how and where their goods are produced, and report problems they are made aware of.  And it would introduce a new general safety requirement, prohibiting the marketing of a product that is “a danger to human health or safety.”

The bill is a significant improvement to Canada’s antiquated regime for regulating toxic chemicals, but it could go much further in protecting human health. 

While it introduces a range of new tools, there is no requirement for the government to actually use these tools.  In a properly functioning public health protection system, when a problem comes to light with a product on the market, there should be an obligation on the government to inform consumers and to remove or restrict the product.  Under the new law, government may do this, but there is nothing to require them to.  Think about it — if the government is made aware of a toxic chemical in a children’s toy, there would be no legal requirement for them to even make people aware of it.  Sure, there would be political consequences if the government is found to have been sitting on the information, but this after-the-fact accountability relies on the government and industry getting caught.

Perhaps most importantly, the law provides little new information for consumers on potentially toxic product ingredients.  In Europe, as well as U.S. states such as California and Vermont, manufacturers must label products if they contain toxic ingredients like carcinogens or endocrine disruptors.  For many products in Canada, it is impossible to know what’s inside even if you know what you’re looking for.  Some industries voluntarily disclose some ingredients in their products, but such voluntary schemes are notoriously ineffective, providing only partial coverage of the market, and lacking independent monitoring. 

Canada needs a new law to deal with the threats posed by harmful chemicals in consumer products.  The current one, written before the summer of love, just doesn’t cut it. 

The Conservatives’ new bill is long overdue.  Parliament should strengthen it further and pass it before the next election.  It seems we only get this chance once every four decades.

Aaron Freeman

Policy Director

Environmental Defence