In North America there are over 85,000 chemicals in use, many of them found in common household products. These chemicals threaten endangered wildlife such as the Orca whale, as well as human health. The Wilderness Committee is helping to build a grassroots movement to turn back the tide of toxins flooding our communities.
Many of the chemicals in products we take for granted include known carcinogens, reproductive toxins and endocrine disrupting chemicals, most of which are unlabeled and untested. Furthermore many toxins we are exposed to are the end result of the manufacturing of products and other industrial activity involved in the manufacturing and distribution process.
The problems is that toxin accumulate in our bodies and we are exposed to them everywhere. Toxins have been known to reach high levels of concentration in the animals many of us eat. Toxins such as dioxins have been linked to various forms of cancer and developmental disorders. What we need to do is reduce the amount of toxins in our environment. There are a few simple things we can do.
Saying No to Waste Incinerators
There is a rising threat of new waste incinerator facilities being proposed throughout British Columbia. Metro Vancouver is considering 6 incinerators. Residents in the area are coordinating their efforts to stop these projects with residents in Kamloops, Christina Lake, and Gold River on Vancouver Island where further incinerators have been proposed.
As you might imagine burning garbage or other hazardous forms of waste is highly dangerous. Dioxins are created and released in the process. All known safety features only reduce toxins in size. These nano-particles are acutely dangerous because they are small enough to pass through membranes and even in to the human brain. At the end of the incineration process (variations of this process are sometimes called gasification or plasmification by industry representatives) you are left with toxic ash and/or other highly toxic waste by-products that must be dealt with. Incinerators don't illiminate the need for land fills in fact it necessitates long term toxic waste storage.
The real answer is simple. We need to stop being so wasteful. Through a commitment to reaching "Zero Waste" we can find ways to recapture the value in the things we are throwing away. If we were to adopt this kind of strategy across BC we could drastically reduce our need for land fills and incinerators. For more information on our campaign against waste incineration click here.
To find out about alternatives to both waste incineration and landfilling visit www.ZeroWasteBC.org.
Banning Cosmetic Pesticides
We can all agree that the health of our families should come before our desire to have a perfect lawn. But as long as cosmetic pesticides, that have been conclusively linked to cancer and other diseases, are available at the local hardware store we are putting our families at risk. That is why the Wilderness Committee has joined with Toxic Free Canada and the Canadian Cancer Foundation to push our provincial governments to enact province-wide cosmetic pesticides bans.
The movement to ban the use and sales of cosmetic pesticides is picking up momentum across the country, as more Canadians become aware of the risk to human health and the environment. Already two provinces, Quebec and Ontario, and over a 150 municipalities, have banned cosmetic pesticides. While municipalities have the authority to pass bylaws governing pesticide use, only provincial governments have the authority to restrict pesticide sales. Which is why BC and all provinces need to take the next step and ban cosmetic pesticides.
Community Right to Know Legislation
Do you know what is under your sink? Many household cleaners contain toxic chemicals that could represent a threat to the health of your family. We believe you have a right to know, which is why we are calling for federal legislation that would require manufactures to label products that contain toxins or carcinogens.
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