ACTION ALERT: Send Comments re: microbead ban for Canada

ACTION ALERT: Send Comments re: microbead ban for Canada

Postby Oscar » Wed Feb 24, 2016 5:39 pm

Opportunity to send comments to Federal Government on banning microbeads . . . plus Background.


From: Sierra Club Canada Foundation
Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2016 3:37 PM
Subject: Federal Government’s Microbead Consultation is Open Until March 10

The federal government is moving ahead with a microbead ban that has already gained unanimous support in the House of Commons. [ http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016 ... d-ban.html ]

You have until March 10 to have your say on the issue.

The Toronto Star summed up the problem with microbeads last May.
[ http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015 ... tries.html ]

“Tiny pellets found in countless products from toothpaste to lipstick are draining into waterways, harming fish, and spreading toxic chemicals that end up in the food chain,” the paper reported. . “The problems begin when they are rinsed out of the mouth or off the face and end up down the drain of the shower or the bathroom sink.”

Microbeads are aptly named—they’re so small that they pass through the filters in wastewater treatment plants on their way to river and lake sediments. One research team found more than 1,000 microbeads per litre of sediment at the bottom of the St. Lawrence River.The tiny plastic pellets have recently become a popular addition to many personal care products because they are inexpensive abrasives. Unfortunately, just as quickly, they have created a serious and growing problem.

Moving Up the Food Chain

“Once they’re in the water, algae and bacteria grow on the surface of microbeads, which makes them heavy enough to sink to the bottom, and also helps them pick up toxic chemicals floating around in the water,” the Star reported. “Small, bottom-dwelling fish then come along and eat the microbeads in the sediment,” at which point the beads and all the toxics they carry begin to bioconcentrate.

“The plastic makes its way up the food chain, with some eventually ending up on human dinner plates,” the Star noted in a late July update, after the previous federal government introduced its own version of a microbead ban.
[ http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015 ... beads.html ]

“In some waters, the plastic pollution is so thick that animals have started evolving to adapt to the new toxic conditions.”

The Devil in the Details

Several U.S. states have outlawed microbeads, or are considering doing so, and an Ontario legislator proposed a ban in a private member’s bill last March. Last year, as well, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Sweden “all pooled their efforts to call on the European Union to ban microbeads from personal care products, explicitly expressing concern about the possibility of it harming human health by ending up in seafood,” the Star reported.

The Canadian Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association reported last year that five of its 14 members had stopped using microbeads, and the rest had committed to do so. They still supported regulation, the Star said, “to make sure one-off products intended for discount markets and counterfeit goods are also free of microbeads.”

That’s all to the good—but when the federal regulation is published, the details will matter. One analysis of state legislation in the U.S. [ http://www.5gyres.org/blog/posts/2015/7 ... egislation ] contrasted the approach in Illinois, where “biodegradable” microbeads aren’t even defined, to measures in Connecticut and Maryland, where manufacturers are encouraged to develop truly biodegradable alternatives.

In other jurisdictions, an unfortunate twist is to allow “biodegradable” formulations that will eventually decompose in an industrial composting facility, at high temperatures and controlled pH. “Microbeads that merely meet this standard do not meet the standard of biodegrading in an aquatic environment (where they actually end up),” 5Gyres notes.

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC)’s proposed regulation characterizes microbeads by their size, but indicates that the more detailed definition will appear in an appendix at a later date. [ https://www.ec.gc.ca/lcpe-cepa/default. ... 1121426360 ]

Another problem arises, because the Canadian regulations are proposing to allow microbeads that are both bigger and smaller than the United States, raising concerns that Canada will become a dumping ground for the beads that are banned in the United States.

So the conversation isn’t over yet.

Time to Have Your Say


ECCC introduced its proposed microbead regulation February 9, based on expert consultation and a review of more than 130 scientific papers. [ https://www.ec.gc.ca/lcpe-cepa/default. ... 3A8EA7D7-1 ] “The science summary concludes that microbeads are toxic to the environment under subsection 64(a) of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA 1999) as they are entering or may enter the environment in a quantity or concentration or under conditions that have or may have an immediate or long-term harmful effect on the environment or its biological diversity,” the department stated.

With a formal notice of intent already in place courtesy of the previous government, ECCC opened the one-month consultation period to solicit public and stakeholder feedback on “the economic and technical considerations of the proposal” and “the challenges and needs of small businesses that would be impacted.” The contact form invites comments by email, snail mail, or fax. [ https://www.ec.gc.ca/lcpe-cepa/default. ... 1&offset=6 ]

Contact Environment and Climate Change Canada today if you have facts or arguments to contribute to the federal microbead consultation. [ https://www.ec.gc.ca/lcpe-cepa/default. ... 1&offset=6 ]

And please send us a copy at membership@sierraclub.ca of anything you write.

Sincerely,

Diane Beckett
Interim Executive Director
Sierra Club Canada Foundation


One Earth • One Chance

Visit our website. Like us on Facebook.
Find us on Twitter @sierraclubcan.

SCCF's success depends on the support of like-minded individuals and organizations.

Sierra Club Canada Foundation
1510-1 Nicholas St
Ottawa, ON K1N 7B7
Canada


= = = = = =


ECOJUSTICE: Help stop the flood of microbeads

[ http://www.ecojustice.ca/help-stop-the- ... icrobeads/ ]

February 24, 2016

Canada’s government needs to act faster than proposed to stop the flood of microbeads into lakes and rivers

It used to be said that we could achieve “better living through chemistry” and experience a world of comfort and convenience that our ancestors only dreamed of. And some have made a compelling argument that, at least in the short term, a reliance on modern chemistry has led to better living by enabling vaccines, proper sanitation, increased crop yields, etc. But even if you feel that modern chemistry has uniformly been a good thing in our lives – there can be too much of a good thing.

The federal government has recognized this and is getting ready to step in to restrict the use of plastic microbeads that end up in our lakes and rivers. But the government may not be moving quickly enough, lagging behind even our American neighbours to the south.

What are microbeads?

A little over a decade ago industry started adding tiny bits of plastic called ‘microbeads’ to all sorts of personal care products.

Microbeads are tiny plastic balls, typically under 1 millimetre in size, that are used in personal care products such as cleansers, lotions and toothpastes. Microbeads are added to some products as an exfoliant, replacing long-standing natural exfoliants such as apricot seed or ground pumice. They’re added to lotions as a lubricant. They’re added to toothpaste to provide abrasive properties and ‘sparkle’.

What’s clear is that while microbeads may once have been considered a desirable selling feature of these products, they’re certainly not essential, irreplaceable or – perhaps most significantly – important enough to warrant polluting our rivers and lakes with millions of tiny bits of plastic.

When products containing plastic microbeads are used and washed down the drain, the plastic is too small to be caught by wastewater treatment facilities, which are not designed to remove or treat microbeads. Instead, they are discharged directly into our rivers and lakes. Scientists have found millions of microbeads in parts of the Great Lakes. The highest concentration was found in Lake Ontario with counts of up to 1.1 million plastic particles per square kilometre.

How do microbeads affect the environment?

Microplastics also absorb dangerous pollutants such as PCBs and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that are already present in the marine environment. When fish, birds, and other wildlife ingest these plastics, the harmful pollutants accumulate in species low in the food chain and are passed on to larger predators, eventually contaminating the fish and wildlife species consumed by humans.

Marine species are unable to distinguish between food and microplastics, and therefore often end up indiscriminately feeding on microbeads. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that plastic debris kills millions of birds and fish annually, in addition to 100,000 marine mammals.

The proposed federal microbeads ban

The Government of Canada recently announced the sensible approach of banning the use and sale of microbeads in personal care products. The government is proposing to ban the manufacture and import of microbeads in Canada starting December 31, 2017, and the sale of microbeads on December 31, 2018.

What’s troubling about this otherwise welcome announcement is that the government’s proposed Canadian manufacturing ban and ban on the sale of microbeads lags behind the American government’s timeline for a ban by six months.

In the US it will be illegal to sell products containing microbeads on July 1, 2018, but in Canada, under the federal proposal, we’d have millions of microbeads flowing into our lakes and rivers for another half year!

In fact, it’s quite conceivable that Canada will become a dumping ground for microbead laden products that American retailers couldn’t sell before their deadline – thus flooding the Canadian market with discounted microbead products.

Help stop microbead pollution

You can take a stand for microbead-free lakes and rivers today. Send a comment before March 10th urging Canada’s Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change to move quickly on banning microbeads.

Submit Your Comment (Go to Original URL for LINK)

Wondering what you should say in your comment?

Here are a few suggestions:

- Everyone, including the personal care products industry, has to take responsibility for ensuring that plastics do not enter Canada’s beautiful lakes and rivers. The federal government is to be commended for recognizing this.

- The government needs to move as quickly as possible to stop the manufacture and sale of products containing microbeads.

- Canada should not become a dumping ground for microbead-laden products that U.S. retailers can’t sell at home.

- The government should stop the sale of microbeads in Canada no later than July 1, 2018, so that we don’t have millions of microbeads flowing into our lakes and rivers for half a year longer than the U.S.

The comment period closes March 10th.

Take action now and have your voice heard. Submit Your Comment

Please address comments to the Products Division of Environment Canada with the subject “Consultation on Proposed Regulations for Microbeads”.

Comments can be submitted by email to ec.produits-products.ec@canada.ca or can be mailed to:

Products Division
Environment and Climate Change Canada
Place Vincent Massey, 9th Floor
351 St. Joseph Boulevard
Gatineau, QC K1A 0H3

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Pierre Sadik is a lawyer and the Manager of Legislative Affairs with Ecojustice
Oscar
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