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

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even though these associations are often deemed controversial in the medical community (e.g. fibromyalgia, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Syndrome), tend to be diagnosed at much higher rates in women than men. Fitting sex and gender into the Chemicals Management Plan In response to this important initiative underway at Health Canada and Environment Canada, and recognizing the importance of attention to sex- and gender-based aspects of it, the National Network on Environments and Women’s Health (NNEWH) has undertaken a project to foster citizen engagement among women and women’s groups in the CMP. Janelle Witzel from Environmental Defence supports this engagement. “Women’s involvement and interest in the case of BPA was instrumental in prompting government action”, she said. “There is a large potential for women’s voice and participation in the CMP process ... that could lead to policy change.” The project, which the Canadian Women’s Health Network is consulting on, will involve a public forum slated for February 2010, following a web-based survey seeking input from a broad range of women across Canada. For more information on these initiatives, check the websites of NNEWH (www.nnewh.org) and CWHN (www.cwhn.ca) for updates. Anne Rochon Ford is the Co-Director of the National Network on Environments and Women`s Health and Coordinator of the national working group Women and Health Protection. Dolon Chakravartty is a graduate student in Public Health Sciences and Collaborative Program in Environment & Health at the University of Toronto. She is the Graduate Fellow working with the National Network on Environments and Women’s Health from the Fall 2009 - Spring 2010. FURTHER READINGS: Altman, R.G., R. Morello-Frosch, J.G. Brody, R. Rudel, P. Brown, and M. Averick. (2008). Pollution comes home and gets personal: Women’s experience of household chemical exposure. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 49(4): 417-435. Available on line through www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ Steingraber, Sandra. (2007, August). The falling age of puberty in girls: What we know, what we need to know. San Francisco, CA: Breast Cancer Fund. Available on line at www.breastcancerfund.org. Steingraber is careful to point out that a myriad of factors seem to be contributing to this trend, environmental exposures being one significant one. O’Grady, Kathleen. (2008/2009, Fall-Winter). Early puberty for girls. The new ‘normal’ and why we need to be concerned. Network, 11(1): 11-13. Available on line at www.cwhn.ca/en/node/39365 “Managing” the Chemicals “Management” can include a wide variety of policy measures; the choice is almost enrely at the discreon of the Government of Canada. While outright bans, and placing limits on producon, use, import and emissions of dangerous substances by regulaon are all possible, they are done relavely rarely. 8 FALL/.WINTER 2009/2010 NETWORK
FURTHER RESOURCES: The Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) is a community-based environmental law clinic funded by Legal Aid Ontario, and has advocated for improvement and reform of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act for many years. For a collection of submissions, media releases and other commentary, see www.cela.ca/collections/pollution/chemicals-management-canada. The Canadian Environmental Network/ Réseau canadien de l’environnement (RCEN) has funding from Environment Canada to coordinate civil society participation in chemicals management in Canada: www.cen-rce.org/CMP/indexcmp. html Environmental Defence is an environmental group that is a member of the RCEN that “gathers, reviews, and analyses evidence related to the CMP on behalf of civil society” and makes this information available through the RCEN website. They have also mounted a campaign to encourage the federal government to designate the chemical 1,4-Dioxane as toxic. http://petition. environmentaldefence.ca/dioxane/ Film: “Toxic Trespass” www.toxictrespass.com T Adapted from Changeons de Lunettes: Pour une approche globale et féministe de la santé, from the Réseau québécois d’action pour la santé des femmes THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT WAYS OF CONCEP- TUALIZING HEALTH. ALTERNATIVE TYPES OF KNOWLEDGE HAVE ALWAYS COEXISTED WITH ‘LEGITIMATE’ OR ACCEPTED KNOWLEDGE. Feminists have consistently played a key role in movements challenging the biomedical approach. The comprehensive feminist approach is based on eight pillars and is characterized by its critical stance toward medical and government institutions. With the new edition of the framework for women’s health, the Réseau québécois d’action pour la santé des femmes (RQASF – Quebec Women’s Health Action Network) offers a critical reading of the current situation and its causes, including the impact of globalization on our health and on our lives in general. It also proposes another vision and another approach to health. Film: “The Story of Stuff ” http://storyofstuff.com CANADIAN WOMEN’S HEALTH NETWORK FALL/.WINTER 2009/2010 9
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