Toronto Environmental Alliance

Support Bill 164 - Right to Know - Email McGuinty and Bradley now!

Please read and circulate the important message below and consider lending your voice in support of Bill 164, the first bill to advance our right to know in decades. The Bill has passed first and second reading and committee and could become law if the government brings it forward. It is important to send the emails on Monday and Tuesday, as the house leader is in the midst of determining the schedule of what to call during these two days. Thank you.

[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

Dear Premier Dalton McGuinty and Government House Leader Jim Bradley: Recently, 200 international experts issued a warning that exposure to toxins in the womb and during infancy can result in an vast array of health problems later in life, including cancer, attention deficit disorder, infertility, and called on governments to take action to prevent harm. (Fetus at high risk from chemicals, Scientists warn about threat of toxic exposures in womb, child's early years, <http://www.thestar.com/News/article/217927>). Ontario legislators can take action RIGHT NOW to help reduce the exposure of infants and expectant mothers? to toxins, as recommended by the world’s leading environmental scientists, by passing Bill 164, the Community Right to Know Act. Having passed second reading, and clause by clause during committee hearings, Bill 164 is now ONE VOTE AWAY from becoming law. Tabled by MPP Peter Tabuns, Bill 164 requires companies to label consumer products containing known carcinogens, and mandates the government to create a comprehensive and searchable online pollution inventory so Ontarians can find out what toxins are being emitted into their communities, and what impact these emissions have on their health and the health of their families. It is supported by a host of environmental and public health groups, e.g. Canadian Environmental Law Association, Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, Toronto Environmental Alliance, Ontario College of Family Physicians, and Environmental Defence. Leading environmental groups and the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario have included Community Right to Know among the priorities they expect politicians to deliver on in 2007.

California has had similar legislation in place for over twenty years, where it has prompted manufacturers in several instances to remove known or suspected carcinogens from commercial goods. I recall that the government passed a MPP wage hike bill in a matter of 8 days, without public consultation, this past December. Bill 164 has not skipped a step in the legislative process, and now just needs to be voted on one last time. If the government can create time in the schedule to pass a pay hike bill that was exempted from public hearings, it can most definitely find time in the remaining weeks of this session to vote and pass Bill 164 that protects the health of Ontario’s children and families. Make Community Right to Know the Law in Ontario.