Health Canada is having a webinar on Wednesday October 5, 2011 on the new Canada Consumer Product Safety Act (CCPSA) which came into force on June 20th, 2011.

Discussions included in this webinar are:

• Mandatory Reporting of an Incident
• Preparing and Maintaining Documents

For registration instructions please see the below link:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/cps-spc/legislation/acts-lois/ccpsa-lcspc/indust/webinar-webinaire-eng.php

From Health Canada:

This recall involves “Unbelievable!^® Goo D-solv-r^TM” by Core Products Co., Inc. The product is available in a 473 milliliters (16 ounces), heat sealed, flip top bottle. Product recommendation is for the removal of grease, tar and adhesives. It can be identified by the UPC 76803 82000 8 or 0 76803 02100 9.

Health Canada’s auditing process has revealed that the recalled product poses an aspiration hazard and subsequently does not meet the warning labelling and child-resistant closure requirements for consumer chemical products under Canadian law.

Aspiration occurs when a chemical product is ingested and then is introduced into the lungs through coughing and/or vomiting. It can result in severe adverse health effects including: pulmonary injury, chemical pneumonia and death.

Neither Core Products Co., Inc., nor Hibbert International, nor Health Canada has received any reports of incidents or illnesses related to the use of this product.

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled product and return it to the place of purchase for a full credit. Consumers who do not wish to return the product should dispose of it according to Municipal Hazardous Waste Guidelines.

For more information about this recall, or to arrange a return of product contact Core Products Co., Inc. at 1-800-825-2673 or Hibbert International at 1-800-661-1467 or1-800-665-7809 (in French).

For more information see the link above.

If you have any doubts about the compliancy of your chemical products, please do not hesitate to contact us:

Toll Free: 1-866-361-3032
E-mail:info@nexreg.com

From Health Canada:

Health Canada has posted a new presentation on the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act. You can view the presentation here:

Canada Consumer Product Safety Act Presentation

We will keep you updated with any new information regarding CCPSA.

From Health Canada:

On August 19, 2011 Health Canada issued a recall involving Anne McClean Brand aerosol cleaners and air fresheners which were distributed by Liquidation World Stores.

The products do not have the mandatory labelling as required under Canadian law.

The products lack the symbols and warnings required for consumer chemicals. The lack of appropriate warnings on the label could result in unintentional exposure to these products and lead to serious illness or injury.

If you have any doubts about the compliancy of your chemical products, please do not hesitate to contact us.

We can be contacted at:
Nexreg Toll Free: 1-866-361-3032
E-mail:info@nexreg.com

From: Health Canada

The Harper Government is taking action to protect children from dangerous products by proposing a new guideline regarding the amount of cadmium that may be found in children’s jewellery.

Cadmium is a heavy metal which is known to be highly toxic when ingested. Health Canada is proposing a guideline regarding total cadmium concentration in children’s jewellery of 130 parts per million (0.013%).  It is believed this concentration would help protect children from cadmium poisoning following accidental ingestion, or prolonged licking and sucking, of these products.  Stakeholders affected by this proposed guideline have until October 10, 2011 to provide comments on the proposal.

Last October, as a first step, the Government appealed to members of industry to voluntarily stop the production, importation and sale of children’s jewellery made with cadmium or cadmium-containing materials.  While there is no known risk to health from simply wearing jewellery made with high levels of cadmium, a Health Canada risk assessment found that there are serious health risks associated with swallowing, sucking or chewing jewellery that contains high levels of cadmium.

Click on the links for more information.

From Health Canada:

The purpose of the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act is to protect the health and safety of Canadians by addressing or preventing dangers posed by consumer products.

The Canada Consumer Product Safety Act heightens industry’s responsibility to ensure that they are not marketing potentially dangerous consumer products.

The Canada Consumer Product Safety Act, which came into force on June 20, 2011, replaces Part I of the Hazardous Products Act and introduces a new regulatory regime in Canada.

The Act will help reduce the number of unsafe or potentially unsafe consumer products on the Canadian market by:

• prohibiting the manufacture, importation, advertisement or sale of any consumer products that pose an unreasonable danger to human health or safety;
• requiring industry to report when they know about a serious incident, or death, related to their product to provide government with timely information about important product safety issues;
• requiring manufacturers or importers to provide test/study results on products when asked;
• authorizing Health Canada to order the recall of unreasonably dangerous consumer products;
• making it an offense to package or label consumer products that make false or deceptive health or safety claims;
• requiring companies to retain documents to help trace products throughout the supply chain; and
• raising fines and penalties for non-compliance from one million dollars to up to five million dollars for serious offenses.

Click on the above link for highlights of this new regulation.

From MSNBC:

The Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs (CAFC) welcomed the coming into force of the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act (CCPSA), which modernizes and strengthens Canada’s product safety laws.

“We congratulate the Government of Canada for their commitment to strengthening Canada’s consumer product safety legislation and limiting risk to the health and safety of Canadians,” said Fire Chief Rob Simonds, President of the CAFC.

“Consumer product safety problems fall disproportionately on the most vulnerable members of society, including the young, the disabled and seniors. We want to thank the Minister of Health, the Hon. Leona Aglukkaq, and her department for their efforts and leadership in bringing this legislation into force,” added Chief Simonds.

A significant proportion of fire department calls in Canada are in response to unsafe products in Canadian homes. It is firefighters who are often the first emergency responders on the scene to help Canadians who have been injured by unsafe consumer products or whose property has been damaged by such products.

Follow the above link for the complete article.

From kingstonthisweek.com:

A new law designed to protect consumers could have the opposite effect on registered charities whose bottom line depends on donations.

Under the new Canada Consumer Product Safety Act, which comes into effect June 20, anyone who sells consumer products for commercial purposes must record the name and address of the person from whom they obtained the consumer product. This is to enable Health Canada to track unsafe products in the event of recall or other corrective action.

However, for charity thrift stores that receive donated items from unknown sources, it would be impossible to comply with this requirement of the Act.

In fact, says one Kingston thrift store manager, “It would put us out of business.”

Now, after hearing from charitable organizations across the country, Health Canada is considering exemptions for retailers who sell donated products, provided the donation is from a person other than a manufacturer, importer, distributor or retailer.

Gary Holub, a Media Relations Officer with Health Canada, provided clarification by email. “Health Canada understands that retailers of donated products face a unique set of circumstances,” he wrote. “For example, these businesses receive donated items from individuals. These donations may be dropped off in off hours, or donors may be anonymous. Even when the donors can be identified, these individuals are not required to record where and when they bought the sweater, toy, or table they might now be about to donate. Therefore, the traceability chain ends at the individual donor, not at an importer or manufacturer.

“In addition, many second-hand items have had the packaging, instructions or labelling removed. Without this identifying information, these businesses may not have the necessary records (i.e., serial number, lot number, manufacturer, etc.) to track the product up the supply chain.

“Therefore, Health Canada has determined that documents prepared under these particular circumstances would do little to trace products back through the supply chain in order to facilitate corrective actions, including product recalls, and so would not be useful in addressing or preventing dangers to the health or safety of Canadians.”

Holub made it clear that thrift stores and other businesses that sell donated items would still be subject to all of the other requirements of the Act and would still be subject to routine inspections. Health Canada is in the process of doubling the number of product safety inspectors to 90 to ensure compliance.

We will keep you informed of any new exemptions to the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act.

From: Health Canada

The purpose of the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act is to protect the public by addressing or preventing dangers to human health or safety that are posed by consumer products in Canada. The Canada Consumer Product Safety Act applies to suppliers of consumer products in Canada, including manufacturers, importers, distributors, advertisers and retailers. It is replacing Part I and Schedule I of the Hazardous Products Act.

The document provides guidance on the key provisions of the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act. The guide provides an overview of the legislation and is not intended to substitute for, supersede or limit the requirements under the legislation.

The guide is available in English and French at the link above. The Canada Consumer Product Safety Act will come into force on June 20, 2011.

Click on the links for more information.

From: Ottawa Citizen

Protecting Canadians from unsafe consumer products is the objective of the new Canada Consumer Product Safety Act (CCPSA) being introduced June 20 by Health Canada. Some of Canada’s existing product safety legislation and regulations, including the Hazardous Products Act, are more than 40 years old. More complex materials, increased global trade and other market changes make updated and consolidated regulations essential.

The CCPSA, which incorporates and overhauls product regulations from the Hazardous Products Act, includes several new provisions. They range from new product recall powers for the federal government to a requirement that industry report to the government any serious incident or death related to a consumer product.

Click the link for more information.