Reducing Harm from Chemicals and Bill S-5
Chemicals that cause diseases are in many products and yet many of us are not aware of the associated risks. Synthetic chemicals can be found in food, plastics, furniture, food wrap, cookware, cans, carpets, shower curtains, electronics, and even shampoo. Production, usage, and disposal of these synthetic chemicals result in pollutants entering our air, food, and water. These pollutants can cause diseases such as organ damage, weakening of the immune system, development of allergies or asthma, reproductive problems and birth defects, cancer, and effects on the mental, intellectual or physical development of children. Research has found that about 9 million people die worldwide from the impacts of toxic pollution every year. Research also states that 5.3% of deaths among Canadians in 2015 were due to toxic pollution with the poor, women, children, and Indigenous peoples disproportionally affected.
Chemical pollution is not just a problem for human health. Recent research published in 2022 finds that humanity has exceeded the planetary boundary for chemical pollution. This means that human-made chemical pollution is pushing the earth away from the stable environment that we have come to know over the last 10,000 years. This could render the earth uninhabitable for humans. Chemical pollution – also referred to as Novel Entities (NE) – consists of “new substances, new forms of existing substances and modified life forms”. This includes “chemicals and other new types of engineered materials or organisms not previously known to the Earth system as well as naturally occurring elements (for example, heavy metals) mobilized by anthropogenic activities”. Nine such planetary boundaries exist of which NEs are one.
A particular challenge for addressing the impacts of NEs is the potential for chemicals to cause unknown effects until impacts are significantly felt. In other words, we do not always know the impacts until it has been determined that the NE in question has contributed to a critical challenge facing the natural environment. Some examples include the production of asbestos which was used in more than 3000 applications at its peak and can cause cancer, leaded gasoline that caused premature deaths and a decline in IQ levels, pesticides that kill bees, and flame retardants that can affect the human reproductive systems.
These problems happen in part because many chemicals used worldwide do not have safety data or are not bound by proper regulatory assessments. We thus don’t always know how dangerous a substance is.
The research also states that “the chemical industry is the second largest manufacturing industry globally” and for NEs “Global production increased 50-fold since 1950, and is projected to triple again by 2050 compared to 2010”. In addition, “There are an estimated 350,000 chemicals (or mixtures of chemicals) on the global market.” This growth in the chemicals sector amplifies the environmental challenge we are facing in reducing the impacts of toxic pollutants. Millions of tonnes of NEs are released into the environment every year and a good amount of these chemicals result in progressively greater amounts of toxins in our air, water, and soil.
Chemical pollution is an international problem as synthetic chemicals can be produced in one place, used in products in another, and disposed of in yet another. In addition, toxins can travel long distances (for example traveling from one continent to another) by air and water. As such some scientists are calling for a global body similar to the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to address the global problem of chemical pollution.
There is, however, one solution that can help in reducing chemical pollution and its impacts. It’s known as Green Chemistry.
The Solution – Green Chemistry within a Circular Economy
According to the US Environmental Protection Agency “Green chemistry is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances. Green chemistry applies across the life cycle of a chemical product, including its design, manufacture, use, and ultimate disposal.” Green Chemistry means reducing pollution at its source, by, according to the EPA, “minimizing or eliminating the hazards of chemical feedstocks, reagents, solvents, and products”. This is done early at the product design stage instead of just addressing pollution after consumer usage of a product. Green chemistry goes beyond reducing toxic pollution and includes waste reduction, energy conservation, and life cycle considerations such as the use of more sustainable or renewable feedstocks as well as designing for the end of life of the product.
It’s possible to find examples of Green Chemistry solutions in a number of the products on the shelves. Examples include biodegradable plastics made using cornstarch and microorganisms, manufacturing of certain drugs using engineered enzymes and low-cost feedstocks resulting in reduced environmental impacts, fuel produced using microbes from waste gas left over from industrial processes, polystyrene produced using abundant carbon dioxide instead of CFC’s that contribute to reduced air quality, and replacing oil-based paints that release hazardous Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s) with a paint mixture from soya oil and sugar that produces much less toxic waste.
Green Chemistry should be applied alongside Circular Economy methods. A Circular Economy means that materials in products are never thrown away resulting in zero waste and are always used at their maximum potential. This is done by sharing, repairing, reusing, and refurbishing products and recycling materials as much as possible. Bio-based materials that can no longer be used must be released into the environment to regenerate the environment (eg. composting of food waste). All forms of pollution from new products must be eliminated. A Circular Economy reduces the need to produce new resource inputs for new products which will help achieve proper chemicals management.
Next Steps
Bill S-5 (“Strengthening Environmental Protection for a Healthier Canada Act”), introduced by the federal government in February 2022, is an opportunity to achieve a Green Chemistry Circular Economy approach. This bill aims at strengthening environmental protections for Canadians. The Bill is valuable in a number of ways including in that it recognizes, for the first time in Canadian law, that “every individual in Canada has a right to a healthy environment”. The bill also recognizes that action needs to be taken to restrict toxic chemicals when vulnerable communities such as infants, pregnant women, or indigenous communities are affected and not just acting when the general public is at risk. Bill S-5 should be improved, however by requiring that industry prove that chemicals are safe before releasing them into the environment. This is known as a reverse burden of proof to chemicals management which is used in the EU. The bill should also adopt the safe substitute principle where toxic substances are required to be replaced with less hazardous and economically viable alternatives accounting for health and environmental costs. Regulations requiring Green Chemistry Circular Economy solutions can help address these deficiencies of Bill S-5 and ensure a sustainable approach to chemicals management.
