Scientists call for pollution crackdown

OTTAWA — When Miriam Diamond’s son was a competitive gymnast, she tried to get toxic flame retardants removed from the foam blocks and landing mats her son was exposed to for 20 hours or more every week.

Diamond, a professor of earth sciences at the University of Toronto, was able to show the concentration of the chemicals in the air and the dust in the gym, was 20 times higher than in the average home.

Europe and the United States recognized the chemicals were toxic. Canada, however, did not, and thus nobody would fund her attempts to get rid of the materials. Without a federal government toxic designation, nobody would listen to get them removed.

It is with that in mind that Diamond signed her name to a letter which will be sent to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today, asking him to seriously consider making changes to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act that would put the onus on companies to show their products are safe before they’re ever put on the market.

Currently, Diamond says, chemicals can be approved for use based on relatively flimsy, sometimes even incomplete data, provided by the manufacturer.

“It always amazes me how little data can be submitted,” said Diamond.

The letter is signed by more than 540 scientists and doctors from across Canada, telling Trudeau this is a “once-in-ageneration opportunity to curb pollution, save lives, protect the environment, boost the economy and improve the quality of life for all Canadians.”

“Canada has a serious pollution problem that is a threat to both human health and the quality of our environment,” it says.

They also want national, enforceable air quality standards.