Government Announces Improved Protection...
December 8, 2006
8 December 2006
Government Announces Improved Protection against Hazardous Chemicals
The following is extracted from a news release issued on 8 December by the Prime Minster’s office.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, along with the Honourable Rona Ambrose, Minister of the Environment, and the Honourable Tony Clement, Minister of Health, today unveiled Canada's new Chemicals Management Plan. The plan takes immediate action to regulate chemicals that are harmful to human health or the environment….
"Since 1994, new chemicals have not been manufactured in Canada or imported here without undergoing a scientific risk assessment," Minister Ambrose explained. "Now that same rigorous assessment will be applied to 'legacy chemicals' that were introduced between January 1, 1984, and December 31, 1986."
"Canada was the first country to complete categorization of 23,000 legacy chemicals last September," added Minister Clement. "It will be the first, now, to take action…."
"Moving forward, we will improve product labelling programs as well as deal with imported products which use chemical substances that are prohibited here in Canada," Minister Clement indicated.
… To provide Canadians with the latest information about hazardous chemicals, the Government is also launching a new Web portal that can be found at http://www.chemicalsubstances.gc.ca.