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Non-stick chemicals to be limited
"Given that our testing indicates PFOS and PFOA could be present in 100 per cent of Canadians, often at higher levels in children, there is a clear need for the federal government to move aggressively to ban all of these toxic stain repellents, not just the four that are subject to this decision,"
"You can really see these actions as preventing future problems . . . being ahead of the curve in that sense,"
- Rick Smith, executive director of Environmental Defence
"You can really see these actions as preventing future problems . . . being ahead of the curve in that sense,"
- Rick Smith, executive director of Environmental Defence
Ottawa, Canada - Ottawa is moving on two fronts to ban or place strict limits on a family of widely used chemicals that poses a risk to human health and the environment.
Federal regulators will block the import into Canada of newly developed products such as grease and water repellents that break down into long-chain perfluorinated carboxylic acids, a group of contaminants linked to cancer and altered fetal development.
It is believed to be the first time any country in the world has taken the dramatic step of trying to prevent further increases in exposures to these perfluorinated carboxylic acids -- or PFCAs -- through a prohibition on new products.