Toxic Nation | Pollution. It's In You.

This past week the Canadian government announced a plan to strengthen consumer protection laws in this country. The Conservatives' new legislative package would amend both the Food and Drugs Act and the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act to give more power to the government on recalls and industry fines. According to the government, "the changes include a crack down on negligent manufacturers, importers and retailers who knowingly endanger their customers" -- specifically: "a requirement of mandatory reporting by suppliers of serious product-related incidents," "dramatically increased fines for violations," and "a new power for the federal government to order recalls of unsafe consumer products."

\r\nIt does not take a Ph. D. in chemistry to figure out that of the tens of thousands of synthetic chemicals being newly approved for market use each year, not all are safe for human health or the environment. In fact, most chemicals, even ones that have been on the market for decades, have not been tested for their effects on human health.

We need stronger consumer product safety regulations, but we also need a more precautionary approach to chemical assessment. If the government does not find out if a chemical is hazardous or not, there will not be cause to regulate it, even if the chemical in question is a danger. The hidden hazards are out there and recalls are not the only way to deal with the problem.

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“Cutting corners on consumer safety will be costly” April 9, 2008