A new study from environmental advocacy group Environmental Defence that tested items from Canadian dollar stores found that 25% of them included toxic chemicals like lead, cadmium, and antimony.
Why it matters: The study exposed a loophole in consumer protection laws. Toxic substances like these are strictly regulated, but Environmental Defence found them in parts of products not covered under Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) rules.
- Most of the flagged items only contained trace amounts of toxic chemicals, but researchers found several alarming examples of unregulated parts with high concentrations of dangerous substances.
- One pair of headphones, for example, had inner soldering containing 3,000 times the amount of lead allowed on the outer parts of products.
What’s next: Environmental Defence called on the federal government to close gaps in the regulations that allow parts like this to find their way into our products.
- Their demands could be met this fall when the House of Commons debates a bill—passed by the Senate earlier this year—that would update the CEPA for the first time since 1999.
- This strengthened version of CEPA includes a framework for assessing the cumulative impacts of chemicals and recognizes the right to a healthy environment (something that 156 other countries already do).
Bottom line: The damage these toxic chemicals cause has been well-documented for decades with links to everything from cancer to cognitive disabilities and this research will add pressure to tighten the laws regulating their use.