Bill can protect consumers from toxic chemicals

If there was lead in your lipstick, coal tar in your conditioner, and hormones in your whole milk, you’d never know it from the labels.

Burnaby-New Westminster NDP MP Peter Julian proposed the Toxic Substances Labelling Act this month.

Many products commonly found in Canadian homes, from baby shampoo to bathroom cleaners, are full of toxins and chemicals known to cause cancer and other long-term health problems. Unlike other countries, Canada does not have a list of carcinogens, mutagens and reproductive toxicants and toxic products are not required to be labeled as such.

A private members bill, Bill C-408, also known as the Toxic Substances Labelling Act, introduced on Mar. 14 by NDP MP Peter Julian is designed to address that situation.  

The bill would force companies to identify if their products have chemicals that may cause cancer. Both Canadian and imported products would require warning labels, listing the toxic substances they contain and describing the risks involved with using the products.

“We would think that would be a very simple proposition,” Julian said while introducing his bill in parliament. “Of course many other countries, including European ones and the United States, have already adopted this type of legislation, but in Canada we do not have this protection for Canadian families.”

Bill may face resistance

The bill is endorsed by both Toxic Free Canada and Option consommateurs in Quebec, but as a private member’s bill it stands little likelihood of being passed. Supporters of the bill say they think the issue is not of high priority for the current government.

“The Harper Conservatives have not the slightest interest in environmental protection,” says Gideon Forman, executive director of Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. “If they did, they would be supporting this bill because it’s just a common sense piece of legislation. It’s not radical at all.”

Forman says the bill might put pressure on manufacturers to reduce toxics in their products leading to much safer products. He also says the market would reward products containing fewer toxins and penalize products with many toxins in them, and Canadians would have an informed choice because of the labels.

Lisa Gue, an environmental health policy analyst for the David Suzuki Foundation. says this could be a golden opportunity for Canada.

In a society that values transparency, we should be able to make informed choices and have the right to know what’s in our products.

“The one advantage of being a laggard in this field is that Canada can be a model for this system, and create legislation that’s on the leading edge,” says Gue. “Science and policy are evolving very quickly right now. There’s room for improvement on what’s been done so far, and we can use that to create the best system possible.”

Canada requires warnings on products that may cause acute and immediate health risks. Anything corrosive, poisonous, or explosive must be labeled, but items containing mutagens or with cancer and reproductive health risks can go warning-free. Gue says the model used for acutely-dangerous products should be extended to include those products with long term and chronic health risks.

“It’s really surprising. Some of the arguments we hear are that it’s expensive to switch labels and new labelling will be confusing for consumers,” says Gue. “When manufacturers don’t want to tell us about the chemicals, I begin to wonder what else they have to hide.”

Bill C-408 would require all products containing toxic substances to have warning labels

“In a society that values transparency, we should be able to make informed choices and have the right to know what’s in our products,” she says.

Labelling only a step

Although labelling is a step in the right direction, both Forman and Gue say they believe certain substances deserve to be banned. For instance, Forman says lead is still used in consumer products, even ones that babies put in their mouths. He argues either producers should be forced to get rid of every trace of these toxins found in their products or not be able to sell them.

As important as this bill is, Forman says he wouldn’t hold his breath for big changes in the near future.

“If there was an NDP government or even a minority, it might well become law. In the current situation I’d love to see it happen but it doesn’t look hopeful. I think the government’s priority would be to kill it," says Forman. "This government in particular has done a terrible job at protecting Canadians from toxic substances.”

Toxic cosmetics in pictures