|
Carcinogens in the News (CIN) is a monthly digest of media articles, government reports, and academic literature related to the carcinogens CAREX Canada has classified as important for surveillance in Canada. Articles included in this digest are for information purposes only. External studies are not evaluated for scientific merit by CAREX Canada.
|
|
CBC News – June 21, 2024
For years, researchers, activists, and community leaders have shown how Indigenous, Black, and other racialized groups have been disproportionately affected by polluting industries. Now, a new law will require the federal government to better track this injustice, and aim to correct it. Bill C-226, sponsored by Green Leader Elizabeth May, became law Thursday evening, nearly four years after similar legislation was first proposed in Parliament. The law will require the federal government to develop a national strategy on environmental racism within two years.
|
|
Canadian Occupational Safety – June 18, 2024
Agriculture is a critical part of Canada's economy and food security. Yet, climate change has put farmers at high risk for health and safety. Understanding the risks of a changing planet on agricultural workers is essential to developing health and safety plans and achieving successful harvests. Some of the climate impacts Canadian farmers must contend with include heat stress, low air quality, pest and disease exposure, and extreme weather.
|
|
|
Editor note: Our team was recently awarded a grant to study workers exposed to climate change-related extreme weather events. This work will use CAREX methods to address a novel problem and help protect workers from the effects of the changing climate. Learn more about this research here.
|
|
|
Montreal Gazette – June 13, 2024
Claiming to be the first municipality in Canada to do so, Montreal will ban the use of most dangerous pesticides on golf courses on its territory, as of the 2025 golf season. That means that as of next spring, Montreal’s eight golf courses will have to follow the domestic pesticides ban adopted by the city in January 2022. Golf courses had been exempted from the ban in 2022 to give them time to study alternatives.
|
|
The Lancet Oncology – June 13, 2024
A new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe has described the devastating consequences of a political and economic environment that prioritises profit over public health. The tobacco, ultra-processed foods, fossil fuel, and alcohol industries are together responsible for a third of global mortality, amounting to some 19 million deaths every year. But it is the system, rather than the individual actors, that WHO is now targeting. “There is a policy context that allows health-harming industries to thrive and cause an enormous burden of preventable death and disability”, explained Gauden Galea, Strategic Adviser to the Regional Director at WHO Europe.
|
|
|
Editor note: According to the World Health Organization, commercial determinants of health (CDoH) are "the private sector activities impacting public health, either positively or negatively, and the enabling political economic systems and norms". Learn more about CDoH here.
|
|
|
Dermato – June 6, 2024
The risks of solar ultraviolet radiation exposure at work are often disregarded in practice, despite the recent recognition of the need for measures to support outdoor workers’ sun protection behavior. It is anticipated that occupational dermatology will become increasingly focused on sun safety in the coming decades. To handle current hurdles in a sustainable manner, the full range of preventive measures should be utilized.
|
|
Union for International Cancer Control – June 4, 2024
Canada’s air quality is often ranked among the cleanest in the world. But climate change threatens to disrupt that. Wildfires are not a new phenomenon in Canada, though the frequency and severity of fires are on the rise as climate change continues to intensify weather conditions that increase the risk of wildfires.
|
|
The Sarnia Observer – May 29, 2024
Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s May 17 order limiting cancer-causing benzene releases at Sarnia-area petrochemical plants has been extended for up to two years. The initial interim order under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act was for 14 days and came weeks after elevated levels of benzene pollution were recorded around the Ineos Styrolution plant in Sarnia, which makes styrene out of benzene.
|
|
|
Editor note: Following this order extension, the Sarnia-based plastics plant announced that it will permanently close by June 2026. Read more about the industrial benzene emissions in the Aamjiwnaang First Nation in the Community Profiles section of our latest e-Bulletin newsletter here, and learn more about our previous work with the Aamjiwnaang First Nation here.
|
|
|
Canadian Journal of Public Health – May 29, 2024
The BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) established the BC Radon Data Repository (BCRDR) to facilitate radon research, public awareness, and action in the province. The BCRDR aggregates indoor radon measurements collected by government agencies, industry professionals and organizations, and research and advocacy groups. The BCRDR currently holds 38,733 measurements from 18 data contributors. The repository continues to grow with new measurements from existing contributors and the addition of new contributors.
|
|
CTV News – May 28, 2024
A buff, tanned man says he has an important message from the "sun god." "If you use sunscreen, you're literally blocking yourself from the most important aspect of health and that is light exposure," he said in a TikTok video from one of Florida's beaches. The man with the handle "Captain Morgan" is part of the anti-sunscreen movement that claims that sunscreen can cause more harm than good. But dermatologists are sounding the alarm about misinformation from the anti-sunscreen movement, saying not wearing sunscreen is what will actually cause cancer, among other problems.
|
|
About CAREX Canada
CAREX (CARcinogen EXposure) Canada is the country’s leading source of evidence on Canadians’ exposures to workplace and environmental carcinogens. We aim to offer a better understanding of which known and suspected carcinogens Canadians are exposed to and where in Canada such exposures may occur. The ultimate goal of the project is to inform efforts to reduce these exposures and thereby help to prevent cancer. For more information about CAREX Canada resources and tools, visit www.carexcanada.ca. You can also follow us on X @CAREXCanada and LinkedIn.
As a national organization, our work extends across borders into many Indigenous lands throughout Canada. We gratefully acknowledge that our host institution, the University of British Columbia Point Grey campus, is located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people.
|
|
|
|
|
|
