Network 12-1.pdf - Canadian Women's Health Network

to coordinate a process of civil
society engagement. When the
names of chemicals are released,
the RCEN notifies a network of
individuals and groups about them
and explains what the government
has concluded (based on existing
research). The RCEN then
provides its own “plain language”
assessment of the literature and
encourages citizen groups to learn
more about these chemicals, many
of which can be found in personal
care products, household cleaners,
cosmetics, and other products
with which humans have regular
contact.
There will be opportunities
for public input both when the
quarterly releases of the names
of chemicals occur (this process
is now complete) and at the later
stages when Health Canada and
Environment Canada deliberate
about how these chemicals will be
“managed.”
These deliberations will go on
until some time in 2011.
Why should women
be concerned?
There are both sex- (e.g.,
biological) and gender-based
(e.g.,social) reasons why women
should be aware of these issues. In
particular, women are known to
have different experiences with
and exposures to many of these
The criteria by which chemicals are being evaluated
1. Possibility for Persistence:
The me it takes for a substance to break down in
the environment
2. Possibility for Bioaccumulaon:
The tendency for a substance to accumulate in the
ssues of living organisms and to travel along the
food chain
3. Inherent toxicity:
Whether a chemical is inherently harmful to human health
or to other living creatures (as disnct from
the legal definion of “toxic” in CEPA)
4. Represenng the Greatest Potenal for Exposure:
Substances in vast amounts of use that can potenally affect
large numbers of the populaon
chemicals. To take the most obvious:
only women get pregnant and
give birth, and their exposures can
affect the embryo and fetus. One
particular concern is based in the
substantial body of scientific literature
demonstrating the unique
vulnerability of the fetus to endocrine-disrupting
chemicals found
in daily environmental exposures
to several chemical substances
(e.g. pharmaceuticals in the water;
Bisphenol A [BPA] found in plastic
and food products; etc.).
However, women’s special concerns
go beyond their reproductive
roles. Women and girls have other
sex- and gender-based vulnerabilities
to being exposed and to being
harmed by the exposures that need
to be considered in discussions
about the control of chemicals.
Sandra Steingraber’s work on the
falling age of puberty provides
compelling evidence to suggest
that myriad factors, including
exposures to endocrine-disrupting
chemicals, play a role in accelerating
puberty in girls.
The social and caretaking roles
carried out by many women,
the nature of much of their paid
employment in the service sector,
and their greater use of personal
care products (cosmetics, lotions,
specialized cleansers, etc.) can
all lead to daily exposure to certain
chemicals, which put women
at higher risk for health-related
problems. Additionally, medical or
health conditions that have been
attributed to chemical exposures,
CANADIAN WOMEN’S HEALTH NETWORK FALL/.WINTER 2009/2010 7