From canada.com:

Liberal Senators are threatening to derail the government’s consumer product safety reforms over concerns that the legislation aimed to protect Canadians from unsafe products gives Health Canada inspectors too much power over businesses.

The bill passed in the House of Commons unanimously in June with the backing of all three opposition parties, but now the person stickhandling the bill in the Senate for the Liberal caucus said this “intrusive way of dealing with product safety” and “heavy-handed approach to a problem” must be tempered. “I’m at the stage where I hope that I can illustrate that there are going to have to be some amendments. Hopefully, either they withdraw this legislation or they come forward with appropriate amendments so we don’t have a mess here,” Liberal Senator Joseph Day said an in interview.

The bill is set to undergo scrutiny at a Senate committee beginning this week, and must pass the upper chamber, where Liberals have a majority of the seats, before becoming law. Day supports the provision in the bill that grants the government the power to order mandatory product recalls. Currently, Health Canada cannot force a company to recall a product, leaving it up to the business to issue a voluntary recall under Canada’s 40-year-old Hazardous Products Act, universally panned as outdated. But Day, in a public split from his Liberal colleagues in the House of Commons, said other key provisions in the bill granting sweeping powers to the health minister and departmental inspectors appear unconstitutional — and unfair to businesses.

We will keep you informed if any regulatory changes result.

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From the Government of Canada – E-Course provides awareness of WHMIS after GHS:

The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) in partnership with Health Canada’s National Office of WHMIS, has developed two e-courses to make Canadians aware of how the future implementation of Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) may impact WHMIS requirements.

More information about the courses and how to register is available on the CCOHS website.

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From CentreDaily.com:

California air regulators approved strict regulations Thursday for aerosol air fresheners, paint thinners and solvents as a way to lessen smog-forming emissions and reduce a health threat.

The state Air Resources Board voted 8-0 to ban the sale of products that emit high levels of so-called volatile organic compounds. The rules are the toughest state mandate in the nation and will take effect Dec. 31, 2013.

Under the regulation, paint thinners and solvents could not contain more than 30 percent of their weight in volatile organic compounds by 2010. The industry would have another three years to get to the tougher standard of 3 percent.

Air fresheners could contain just 20 percent of the compounds by 2012.

Doug Raymond, a consultant representing WM Barr & Co., a major supplier of solvents and paint thinners, said the requirements will force manufacturers to use acetone, which is highly flammable.

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The New York Times – Environmental Group Reveals Toxic Chemicals in a Range of Consumer Items:

Some tennis balls for dogs, chew toys for cats and women’s plastic handbags were among the common household items found to contain lead and other toxic chemicals in recent tests, a nonprofit environmental group reported on Wednesday.

But independent toxicity experts expressed uncertainty that the mere presence of a toxic chemical in some objects would pose a clear health danger to people or animals.

Dr. Andrew D. Racine, director of the division of general pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore in the Bronx, said that any item that contained significant quantities of lead should not be given to children. But in most cases, knowing that a product may contain measurable quantities of a potentially toxic chemical is not helpful, he said.

We will keep you informed if any regulatory changes result due to this study.

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From The Huffington Post:

As the Obama Administration works with Congress to pass comprehensive health care reform legislation this year, President Barack Obama told reporters at the July 10 Group of 8 news conference, “We have to bend the cost curve on health care, and there are some very specific ways of doing that – - game changers that incentivize quality as opposed to quantity, that emphasize prevention.”

Most cosmetics and personal care products on store shelves today contain five major categories of toxic ingredients. These are: frank carcinogens (cancer causing); precursors of or “hidden” carcinogens; endocrine or hormonally disruptive; penetration enhancers; and allergens.

There has been recent progress in one state. Following six decades of the FDA’s reckless failure to comply with the requirements of the 1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger enacted the California Safe Cosmetics Act. This requires that cosmetic companies disclose to the State Department of Health Services any ingredients in their products that have been identified as causing cancer or hormone disruption. The Department can then require the manufacturer to disclose these ingredients and their toxic effects on a website for public viewing.

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We will keep you informed of any future changes or potential future changes to regulations.

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From the New York Post – Toys and toxicity; Beware of pet toys that contain dangerous chemicals:

…researchers at Michigan’s Ecology Center examined more than 400 pet products for hazardous chemicals, including lead, cadmium, mercury, bromine, chlorine (PVC) and arsenic… One-quarter of pet products tested…were found to have detectable levels of lead…There are currently no government standards for hazardous chemicals in pet products.

We will keep you informed if any regulatory changes result due to this study.

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From The Dallas Morning News:

A new Web site that rates consumer products on their toxic chemical content launched this month, providing information on goods ranging from automobiles and pet products to school supplies and women’s accessories. The HealthyStuff.org site lists more than 900 products….Ratings focus on levels of lead, cadmium, chlorine, arsenic, bromine and mercury in products….

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From WSAZ NewsChannel 3:

To use or not to use? That’s the question when it comes to hand sanitizers in one local school district. After warnings about the dangers of children drinking hand sanitizer, the policy was changed in Cabell County Schools. As we quickly found out, though, there was mass confusion about what the new policy was and what’s in the best interest of the children.

…..Southside Elementary Principal John Hanna said the situation could have been avoided with communication on his part. “Hand sanitizers are allowed in the schools as long as we have the MSDS sheet on them, which tells us what ingredients and chemicals are in them,” Hanna said. “Then, it’s up to the teacher to monitor their use.”

Meanwhile, kids who attend Cabell County Schools are not supposed to bring their own hand sanitizers from home. School officials say, however, they’re having a hard time policing that.

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From the New York Times – Fight Grows Over Labels on Household Cleaners :

Manufacturers of detergents, household cleansers and furniture polish, like Procter and Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and others, are facing questions from consumers about the chemicals in their products. While many of the chemicals are present only in small amounts, some have been associated with asthma, birth defects and fertility problems in higher doses. And even if the amounts are low, consumer groups say, what is the effect of using these products over a lifetime?

Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and other major companies have been sued in New York State by consumer groups seeking fuller disclosure. A measure has been introduced in Congress to require ingredient disclosure on all product labels. And in California, which has led the nation in passing “green chemistry” laws, an influential Democrat, State Senator Joe Simitian, said he would press for mandatory disclosure if the voluntary effort came up short.

There are still points of contention. The voluntary industry plan covers four product categories — air fresheners, automotive care, household cleaners and floor polishes. It would require that all ingredients be listed in descending order of concentration, but amounts of less than 1 percent would not have to be ranked. Preservatives, fragrances and dyes — crucial ingredients that differentiate products but can contain potentially hazardous chemicals — are exempt from disclosure plan.

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From ‘The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics’ – New Concerns Raised About Chemical in Leading Baby Shampoo:

A peer-reviewed paper in the Journal of the Dermatology Nurses’ Association raises fresh concerns that a chemical preservative used in America’s leading baby shampoo may be causing increased rates of allergic contact dermatitis, an inflammation of the skin that varies from mild irritation to rashes and open sores.

The paper states that quaternium 15, a chemical preservative that kills bacteria by releasing formaldehyde, “is the most sensitizing formaldehyde-releasing preservative and has been repeatedly shown to be a strong allergen that can cause contact dermatitis.” Quaternium 15 — found in many baby products including Johnson’s Baby Shampoo, Mr. Bubble Bath and Huggies Baby Wash — is considered by the North American Contact Dermatitis Group to be among the most clinically significant contact allergens in children.

“Quaternium 15 is present in an alarmingly high number of baby products, making exposure and sensitization at an early age increasingly common,” said Sharon Jacob, M.D., co-author of the paper and physician at the Department of Medicine and Pediatrics at Rady Children’s Hospital. “This is a concern because repeated exposures to sensitizing chemicals, especially in early life, can cause a person to develop allergic reactions over time. Therefore, we advise parents to choose products without quaternium 15 and other formaldehyde-releasing preservatives whenever possible.”

We will keep you informed if any regulatory changes result due to this study.

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