Toronto residents and workplace representatives have a new tool to help them exercise their ‘right to know’ about cancer-causing chemicals found in their neighbourhoods and workplaces.
 
The Toronto Cancer Prevention Coalition (TCPC) has released the first ever Toronto Toxic Reduction Tool Kit. The Tool Kit was developed by the TCPC’s Environmental and Occupational Carcinogens Working Group in particular Toronto Environmental Alliance and Canadian Environmental Law Association.
 
The Tool Kit was funded through the Live Green Toronto ChemTRAC Toxics Reduction Grants program. The Kit's launch coincided with the release of new data on pollutants in Toronto reported through the city’s Environmental Reporting and Disclosure Bylaw. Also known as a ‘right to know’ bylaw, it requires certain businesses, many of them small and medium sized, to report their manufacture, use and release of 25 priority chemical substances that are of concern to public health.
 
Information reported through Toronto’s Chem TRAC data base tracks the use and release of chemicals. The Tool Kit will help residents and workers understand and access this information and encourage them to press for waste and toxics reduction, pollution prevention and greening of local businesses, all with a view to protecting worker and community health.  
 
The Tool Kit is downloadable in its entirety or by specific topics on:

• Your New Environmental Reporting and Disclosure Bylaw
• The “Toxic Twenty-Five” Priority Substances
• Reporting Companies
• Model Companies Show How Pollution Prevention Works
• How to Research Chemicals Using ChemTRAC
• Reducing Pollutants in Your Neighbourhood
• Auditing Your Workplace
• Getting the Toxic Twenty-Five Out of Your Home.

“Workers experience first-hand exposures to toxic substances they use in their workplaces but these might further impact their families’ health in the community”, says Ken Bondy, National Coordinator for Health, Safety and Environment, Canadian Auto Workers and co-chair of the Working Group. “The Tool Kit’s auditing tips will help workplace representatives identify chemicals in their workplace. We also include a journal for recording toxic chemical exposures at work which can be shared with your doctor.”
 
The TCPC, created by Toronto Public Health in 1998, is a unique coalition of government and community partners dedicated to comprehensive cancer prevention. It’s goal is to promote primary prevention of cancer through education, policy development and advocacy. The Workers Health & Safety Centre (WHSC) is a founding member of TCPC’s Environmental and Occupational Working Group.
 
The WHSC offers a number of training programs to help you identify and control workplace carcinogens. Don’t see what you need? Call us toll-free at 1-888-869-7950 and ask to speak to a training services representative or email us at contactus@whsc.on.ca.