TORONTO, June 7, 2016 – Some 23,000 substances came into use in Canada without environmental or health assessments prior to the 1990s, many of which are still used today, says York U’s Dayna Nadine Scott. Scott is giving expert testimony to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development Thursday, June 6.
There needs to be better assessment and regulation of toxic substances and that includes taking greater account of emerging science, says Scott, who researches, writes and teaches about environmental health, chemical regulation and environmental justice.
In her brief, Reforming the Canadian Environmental Protection Act: The Assessment and Regulation of Toxic Substances should be Equitable, Precautionary, and Evidence-based, Scott will give several recommendations to improve Part 5 of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEPA) that deals with controlling toxic substances.
“Canadians desperately need better protection from the harmful, long-term effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals and other toxic substances with carcinogenic, neurotoxic, developmental or reproductive effects. This Committee is uniquely positioned to ensure that outcome, by recommending some much-needed and long-overdue improvements to Part 5 of CEPA 1999,” says Scott of York U’s Osgoode Hall Law School and the Faculty of Environmental Studies.
Among her recommendations, she says CEPA should better protect vulnerable populations and communities by allowing harmful chemicals to be more readily designated as toxic substances, and the burden of proof should be on industries to demonstrate that a substance is safe. In addition, the assessment and regulation of toxic substances should be based on current and emerging science. This is especially critical for endocrine disrupting chemicals as cumulative exposure and low dose exposure can have health consequences.
“Canadians are exposed to growing volumes, uses and sources of existing toxic substances, and to many new ones. Every day, Canadians encounter significant health risks from toxic substances, many of which are in consumer products,” says Scott. “These exposures are linked to a myriad of diseases, including cancers, developmental diseases, reproductive disorders and neurological problems.”
But it’s not enough to ban toxic substances without looking at safe alternatives so that a banned substance isn’t substituted with something equally as harmful or worse. Scott points to the endocrine disrupting chemical BPA which has been linked to breast cancer and is used to make hard clear plastics like water bottles and coatings or linings for food and beverage cans. In many cases, BPA is being substituted by BPS, which is a closely related and unregulated chemical.
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Sandra McLean, York University Media Relations, 416-736-2100 ext. 22097 / sandramc@yorku.ca
