Jpod and Car Ship

(jpod female breaches infront of car carrier ship)

Proposed toxin ban misses biggest threat
October 30, 2006

VANCOUVER – Proposed federal regulations to restrict a hazardous group of chemicals fail to address the most important chemical of them all, says a new report from the David Suzuki Foundation.

Fireproof Whales and Contaminated Mother’s Milk: The Inadequacy of Canada’s Proposed PBDE Regulations examines a group of chemicals used as flame-retardants (specifically PBDEs, or polybrominated diphenyl ethers) that are found in a wide range of products including clothing, computers, motor vehicles, and furniture. PBDEs are accumulating at an exponential rate in several areas in Canada, including the Arctic. Canadian women and killer whales have some of the world’s highest concentrations of these commonly encountered toxic chemicals.

“The breast milk of Canadian women contains the second highest level of PBDE concentrations in the world, behind Americans,” says David Boyd, environmental lawyer and report co-author. “Unfortunately, the proposed regulations won’t solve the problem.”

Canada’s proposed regulatory approach focuses on three commercial mixtures of PBDEs and calls for the virtual elimination of two of them, pentaBDE and octBDE. The proposal fails however, to ban the most widely used chemical, decaBDE, which breaks down into the very same chemicals that are being banned for health and environmental reasons.

“Under the proposed regulations, Canada is effectively prohibiting the import, manufacturing, and sale of chemicals that are no longer commercially available, while ignoring the most heavily used chemical,” Mr. Boyd says. “The only way to protect Canadians and environment from PBDEs is to eliminate them entirely.”

The report presents substantial scientific evidence that decaBDE is the most prevalent and widely used PBDE product in Canada and is persistent, toxic to humans and animals, and bioaccumulative; the three necessary requirements for a chemical to be banned under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.

The population of killer whales that frequent British Columbia’s southern waters consists of only 23 reproductive females, says Dr. Scott Wallace, sustainable fisheries analyst at the David Suzuki Foundation.

“These endangered whales are the most contaminated marine mammals on the planet,” Dr. Wallace says. “To protect endangered species and the health of our children, the federal government has a legal obligation to ban all substances that are persistent, toxic, and accumulate in our bodily tissues. It’s an obligation that includes the strict regulation of decaBDE.”

In addition to looking at the health and environmental effects of PBDEs, the report presents several key, workable solutions to address the inadequacies of the current Canadian regulatory proposal. These recommendations include:

Prohibit the manufacturing, import, sale, and use of all PBDEs (including decaBDE) in Canada;
Support a global ban on all PBDEs pursuant to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants; and,
Address PBDE knowledge gaps with research programs and bio-monitoring of the Canadian population.
The full report, Fireproof Whales and Contaminated Mother’s Milk: The Inadequacy of Canada’s Proposed PBDE Regulations can be found online at: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/WOL/Publications.asp

For more information contact:
Jason Curran
Communications Specialist, David Suzuki Foundation
Office: (604) 732-4228
Cell: (604) 961-9591
jcurran@davidsuzuki.org