Q.  How high are cancer rates in Canada

Approximately one in two Canadians will develop cancer and one in four will die of the disease, with the risk being slightly greater among men than women.

Based on current incidence rates, 40% of women and 45% of men in Canada will develop cancer during their lifetimes.  

One in seven men is expected to be diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime, and one in 28 is expected to die from it; 

One in nine women is expected to develop breast cancer in her lifetime, and 1 in 29 is expected to die from it.

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Cancer costs are a huge drain on our economy.  In 2004 it was estimated that the direct and indirect costs of cancer cost the Canadian economy $17.1 billion[1]

Q.  How can I help prevent Cancer?

As the Canadian cancer Society  states, there are some risk factors related to everyday choices that you yourself can change.  You can choose to:

      + Be a non-smoker and avoid tobacco smoke.
      + Eat a healthy diet.
      + Be physically active every day.
      + Stay at a healthy weight.
      + Limit alcohol use.
      + Reduce your exposure to UV (ultraviolet) rays from the sun or indoor tanning equipment, like tanning beds.
      + Know your body and report any changes to your doctor or dentist.

These are all good recommendations and endorsed by Health Canada.  But these factors do not address a considerable proportion of the risk for getting cancer. 

The environmental links to cancer are not well publicized in the information given to the public by our government.  Advice on how to limit your exposure to known carcinogens is incomplete.  We agree: don’t smoke and do protect yourself from UV rays.  But there are important other ways to limit your exposure to carcinogens such as knowing about the chemical carcinogens in products.     

Q.  What are the chemical links to cancer?

 

Substances and exposures that can lead to cancer are called carcinogens.

There is a wide and growing body of research on how chemicals, radiation and other environmental factors are carcinogens. Yet, this is still not clearly understood by the public.  For example, globally breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women and many women wonder if they have a predisposed genetic condition for this disease.  Yet only about 5% to 10% of breast cancers are thought to be linked to inherited changes (mutations) in certain genes.[2]  We know that exposures to common chemicals contribute to the unacceptably high incidence of breast cancer.  Many chemicals exert hormonal estrogenic effects and research has found that our exposure to these chemicals in the womb, as children and as adults are linked to breast cancer development.[3]  The causes of cancer are complex and inter-related.   The figure below from Breast Cancer Fund demonstrates how radiation and chemicals that impact our hormone system, or Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs), are linked to breast cancer.  The question arises:  Why is this information not made more popular?  Why are we not educating students, businesses, health care professionals and communities with this knowledge?

 

Q. Do we know which chemicals are linked to cancer?

There are over 80,000 chemicals in use.  Less than 10% of these have been tested for full environmental and human impact.  This means many chemicals in use have big ‘data gaps’ and most have never been tested for cancer.  Among the types of hazardous chemicals, there are other chemicals that are known to cause changes to our hormonal system which is particularly dangerous to the developing fetus and children.  Others are known to be toxic to reproduction or to the nervous system.  For more information about hormone disrupting chemicals visit the website  set up by Dr Theo Colborne, the author of Our Stolen Future.

Since 1971 the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a World Health Organization department, has published lists of known, probable or possible carcinogens.   This list of cancer causing agents is updated annually.   However the list, as with the ingredients on cosmetic products, is useful and important but not practical to the average citizen.

The National Toxicology Program in the USA publishes not only a list of Known and Reasonably Anticipated Human Carcinogens but also the USES and EXPOSURE routes of these chemicals. 

This information is of more use to the public.  It provides detailed information about how workers, consumers and communities may be exposed in the workplace, from manufacturing processes or from consumer products.[4]  

Q. Does a substance on a list mean it will immediately cause cancer in a person?

 

Carcinogens do not cause cancer in every case, all the time. Substances labeled as carcinogens may have different levels of cancer-causing potential. Some may cause cancer only after prolonged, high levels of exposure. Some work at very small, infinitesimal levels within the womb to predispose a human to cancer in adulthood. For any particular person, the risk of developing cancer depends on many factors, including how they are exposed to a carcinogen, the length and intensity of the exposure, and the person's genetic makeup. Often these exposure scenarios are based on tests that look at the impact of a person to one chemical. In reality, we are exposed to many chemicals in mixtures and often at constant exposure during the day. Communities who live near factories that emit carcinogens into the air are particularly impacted as are workers who work with hazardous chemicals. Many household products contain hazardous ingredients. A small but crucial step to reduce the use of chemical carcinogens in our economy is to ensure that we, the public, are aware of the presence of carcinogens in our lives. We have the right to know.. 

Q. How can I know if I am exposed to these cancer causing chemicals?

Right now, Canadians do not have information about suspected or known carcinogens in  consumer products, food, cosmetics and personal care products.

Cosmetics.  We do have ingredient labeling on cosmetic products which is important, but we have no easy way of interpreting what these lists mean about their inherent hazards or how well these ingredients have been tested to understand if they are linked to hormone disruption or cancer. Canada does go further than the United States in publishing a ‘Hot List’ which is a list of substances that are restricted and prohibited in cosmetics sold in Canada. However, unlike the European Union which expressly states that no carcinogens are allowed in cosmetics, we have no way of knowing if this list actually bans the use of any suspected or known carcinogen. For more information visit our Safe Cosmetics page.

Toxic Emissions into our Environment.  Canadians have the National Pollutants Release Inventory (NPRI), a national inventory on the release of 268 key pollutants into the environment which include  carcinogens. As such, it is the only national, legislated and publicly accessible inventory established in Canada, with the aim to give the public information about the hazardous emissions in their communities and to prompt industry to reduce these emissions.  Companies with more than ten employees submit an annual report documenting their environmental releases of any of the listed substances in quantities exceeding ten tones that are released to air, water or land.  Pollution Watch   helps citizens use the NPRI data and to understand which province releases the most carcinogens.    However, as Cancer Care Ontario[5] points out, the ten-tonne threshold limit specified in the NPRI enables many industries to avoid reporting limited releases of toxic substances. For example, small industries, such as drycleaners, electroplating facilities and auto-body shops, release known carcinogens that are not subject to NPRI reporting requirements.    This online inventory does not give information about the presence of hazardous chemicals in products.

The Work Place.  Canada’s Hazardous Products Act does establish a list of ingredients, which requires labeling and some ingredient disclosure, but this is meant solely for the workforce.  The same applies to the Controlled Products Regulation.    Here, any supplier who sells or imports a controlled product intended for use in a work place in Canada must supply a Materials Safety Data Sheet for workers and label a substance if it is corrosive, flammable, reactive, poisonous and infectious, or has chronic toxic effects. But again, as with the Hazardous Products Act, it is meant only for the workforce as part of Canada’s Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System.    

Consumer Warning Labels.  Other labels that state ‘use in a well ventilated place’ or  ‘harmful or fatal if swallowed’ does not give the public any information about the actual chemical ingredients, nor if they are known or suspected to be carcinogens.

The new Canada Consumer Product Safety Act – does not consider carcinogens or labeling. In June 20, 2011 the Federal Government introduced the Consumer Product Safety Act. As Minister Aglukkaq announced in the government’s press release: 

 

"I'm pleased that our Government now has the power to remove dangerous products from the store shelves," said Minister Aglukkaq. "As a mom, the new legislation gives me more confidence in the toys and products I give to my child."

 

The purpose of this Act is to protect the public by addressing or preventing dangers to human health or safety that are posed by consumer products in Canada, including those that circulate within Canada and those that are imported. The Consumer Products Safety Act does not include carcinogens. Yet the presence of a carcinogen in a product clearly meets the Act’s definition of ‘danger to human health’

 

The Act defines “danger to human health or safety” as meaning any unreasonable hazard — existing or potential — that is posed by a consumer product during or as a result of its normal or foreseeable use and that may reasonably be expected to cause the death of an individual exposed to it or have an adverse effect on that individual’s health —— including an injury — whether or not the death or adverse effect occurs immediately after the exposure to the hazard, and includes any exposure to a consumer product that may reasonably be expected to have a chronic adverse effect on human health.

 

What does the Act apply to? It applies to a range of products and does include some chemical restrictions such as the amount of chemical softeners a baby can ingest through vinyl toys. But again, it does not inform the consumer that these chemicals are known to be endocrine disruptors, nor that one of them (DEHP) is “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen”ⁱ

 

 

i Report on Carcinogens. Op cit. Page 156i Report on Carcinogens. Op cit. Page 156

(Above ImageL  a globally recognized Cancer Label developed by the United Nation.) 

Above is the symbol proposed by the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) for chemicals that are contained in one of these categories:

      + Carcinogen
      + Respiratory Sensitizer
      + Reproductive Toxicity
      + Target Organ Toxicity
      + Mutagenicity
      + Aspiration Toxicity

The GSH intends to harmonize the use of labels around the world.  According to Health Canada’s website Canada is now beginning the process of harmonizing to the GHS framework.  The United Nations states that the “target audience for the GSH include consumers, workers, transport workers and emergency responders.”  Canada must move forward quickly to ensure this label, or some other clearly defined symbol, appears on products that contain known or suspected carcinogens. 

We see no reason why the Canadian public should not have the right to know about carcinogens in a product.   

California’s Right to Know about carcinogens and reproductive toxins. 

The best example of public right to know about carcinogens in products comes from the State of California's Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act (aka Proposition 65):

Proposition 65 requires the State to publish a list of chemicals known to cause cancer or birth defects or other reproductive harm. This list, which must be updated at least once a year, has grown to include approximately 800 chemicals since it was first published in 1987.

Proposition 65 requires businesses to notify Californians about significant amounts of these chemicals in the products they purchase, in their homes or workplaces, or that are released into the environment. By providing this information, Proposition 65 enables Californians to make informed decisions about protecting themselves from exposure to these chemicals. Proposition 65 also prohibits California businesses from knowingly discharging significant amounts of listed chemicals into sources of drinking water.  (Image Right is an example.)  

Q.  What kinds of products may have a known or suspected carcinogen?

The US. National Toxicology Program report gives examples of where carcinogens are used in products and the Breast Cancer Fund’s State of the Evidence report gives examples of where chemicals known to be linked to breast cancer, are found in products. The Human Toxome Project from Environmental Working Group shows all the chemicals found in babies, children and adults and then explains their human health impacts. Here are some examples: 

 

       + Methylene chloride (dichloromethane) used in auto products, adhesives,
          paint removers, propellant in aerosols, household herbicide      
       + triclosan used as an antibacterial used in soaps, toothpaste, mouthwash
          and other personal care products
       + lindane – used as lice control
       + Dichlorvos used in pet collars and pest strips
       + 2,4-D used in household pesticides, weed control
       + DEHP used as a plasticizer in many plastics, eg medical devices
       + Asbestos used in brake linings, ….
       + Styrene used in household paints, adhesives, inkjet printer ink
       + Nitrilotriacetic acid used in carpet-care products
       + Perchloroethylene used in drycleaning and spot removal
       + Urethane used in hair care products (mousses, gels, sprays) sunscreens, nail polish,
          mascara, foundation
       + formaldehyde used in glues, sealants, pet shampoos, inert ingredients in pesticides   
       + Titanium dioxide used in sunscreens and mineral makeup. Nanoparticles
          of titanium dioxide are of particular concern    

Other substances listed include alcohol and phytoesrogens, found in soy-based products. The research on soy-based products in contradictory and we know that alcohol risk increases with intake. This type of qualifying and explanatory information could be included in the symbol. Although the details need to be worked out, the increasingly popular use of scanned bar codes and web links makes this possible. What is important is that this information must be actively disseminated to the public so that we can make informed choices. 

 

Q.  Why is our government allowing carcinogens in products?

The traditional way of setting chemicals policy is to ascertain what exposure a person will receive from a chemical. As scientists sometimes point out: “even water can kill you if you drink too much.” This implies that the risks from all chemicals are relative and this is dangerously simplistic -- particularly when we know how hazardous chemicals interact with living systems, how they can persist in the environment and in our bodies and how they cancause cells to mutate and wreak havoc on our human health. We do not put enough focus on ‘informed substitution’ or the search for safer chemicals to replace known carcinogens and other hazardous chemicals. Instead, our current chemicals policy tries to limit our exposure. This is an ineffective and increasingly outdated framework for chemicals policy within companies and governments. For example, evidence continues to build about the hormone disrupting effects from low dose exposure (at infinitesimal levels of parts per billion) to BPA, a chemical found in polycarbonate plastics, such as baby bottles, tin can linings, and cash receipts. This estrogenic chemical is increasingly linked in lab studies to breast cancer risk. We should not be using this chemical in products and as an immediate priority, industry and the government should be prioritizing the phase out of this chemical with proven safer alternative chemicals and products.

The simple truth is that ‘Toxic In = Toxic Out’. More and more studies show that house dust is contaminated with carcinogens as well as other hazardous chemicals, most of which come from the products we bring into the home. Examples include residues of perc on clothes you bring home from drycleaning; chemicals that leach from the vinyl shower curtain or vinyl tiles in your home; flame retardant chemicals found in your sofa or polyurethane foam cushions can all be found in house dust. Children and babies are particularly exposed to these chemicals.  

Q.  But if these chemicals are still in use, aren't they necessary in manufacturing and in our economy? 

 

Responsible companies can screen the ingredients in their products and commit to replacing hazardous chemicals with safer alternatives. We know  healthy business strategies are doable. 

Q. What can I do to take action?
 

Sign the petition. 

Talk to your Member of Parliament about this petition.

Join BCAM and subscribe to our newsletter for further updates.

Become a chemical detective. Go to manufacturers' websites and see if they give you information about their chemicals policy. Call or email their consumer information support desk.