Opinion Editorial: Peter Goodhand

THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR, Feb 4 -- Today is World Cancer Day and it offers an opportunity to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention both individually through our healthy choices and collectively as a society through cancer prevention policy.

When it comes to environmental carcinogens, we can protect ourselves only if we know about toxic chemicals. It’s up to government to ensure the use of toxics is reduced and the public is informed about the presence of toxic chemicals.

The Ontario government has committed to implementing a toxic reduction strategy. An overwhelming majority of Ontarians supports the government on this commitment.

A poll commissioned by the Canadian Cancer Society showed that most (96%) Ontarians support a government strategy to require industries to reduce toxics. When asked if the economic situation would cause them to rethink their support for government action, 67% of these Ontarians said no.

Ontarians are concerned about the presence of toxic chemicals in their environments and the impact these chemicals have on the health of their families. Our survey found the majority (76%) of Ontarians surveyed believe toxic chemicals are present where they live, work and play. And 77% believe toxic chemicals are in products they use every day.

We have the right to know about the presence of toxic chemicals in our environments. Nothing brought this home more than the 1997 plastics fire at a Hamilton recycling plant in which residents and emergency workers were exposed to toxic chemicals causing short- and long-term health issues. That industrial fire is a prime example of how lack of knowledge about the presence of toxic chemicals can impact negatively on Ontarians.

We know that environmental carcinogens disproportionately affect certain sectors of Ontario’s labour force. Tragically, exposure to occupational carcinogens may also indirectly harm people who never worked where toxics are present. Some adults die of cancer because they were exposed as children to dangerous substances brought home on the clothing of a parent who worked in certain industries.

Why should people living with cancer agonize about whether they had been exposed to a toxic substance? Why should anyone fear they are unknowingly exposing themselves or their children to toxic chemicals?

In December, the Canadian Cancer Society along with a coalition of health, environmental and labour organizations launched Take Charge on Toxics, a campaign to ensure the province’s toxic use reduction legislation effectively addresses toxic chemicals in Ontario.

The Take Charge on Toxics campaign urges the Ontario government to introduce strong toxic use reduction legislation when the legislature resumes this month. The campaign calls for legislation to include five ‘Rs’:

• Reduce the release of toxic chemicals in places where people live, work and play by 50% within five years to protect public health.
• Replace toxic chemicals where safer alternatives exist.
• Restrict the use of toxic chemicals that are still in use through guidance by a provincial toxic use reduction institute.
• Report annually on progress and monitor emissions, holding industry accountable to reduce use of toxic substances through enforcement of regulations.
• Reveal to all Ontarians the toxic chemicals in their workplaces, communities and homes through an identifiable product label or symbol and access to a public database.

Furthermore, Ontarians need to be informed about the presence of toxic chemicals not only where they live, work and play but also in what they buy.

If consumers are aware that a product contains a toxic chemical, the knowledge empowers them to choose a safer alternative. This will in turn encourage manufacturers to respond to consumer demand for safer products.

According to the Society’s survey, virtually all Ontarians (99%) feel they have the right to be informed, either by a symbol or label, about harmful chemicals in a product before they buy it. The Ontario government has the opportunity to show leadership by implementing product labeling.

The need to address the current economic situation, while pressing, should not derail the government’s commitment to an overall toxics reduction strategy.

In fact, toxic use reduction legislation may very well help relieve the economic crisis. After the state of Massachusetts implemented a toxics use reduction strategy, companies there saved $14 million by using more efficient processes and safer chemicals.

Besides lowering costs, reducing toxins moves Ontario industry closer in line with important international markets. For example, European legislation sets high environmental standards that Ontario companies must meet in order to be competitive and export to the world’s largest market.

It also makes good economic sense to invest now in cancer prevention that will mean saving health-care costs in the long-term.

The real bottom line, however, is the health and well being of Ontarians. We can’t ignore the fact that cancer is a growing concern in Ontario. And we can’t lose sight of the government’s commitment to protect the health of Ontarians by implementing toxics use reduction legislation. It’s the right thing to do.

For more information about the Take Charge on Toxics campaign, visit www.takechargeontoxics.ca

Peter Goodhand is CEO of the Ontario division of the Canadian Cancer Society.