A prescription from health professionals: strengthen Canada’s toxics law

A statement by the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment and the Canadian Association of Nurses for the Environment calling for the strengthening of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) through amendments to Bill S-5 to better address modern health and environmental threats.

• The Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) is considered outdated because it was last updated in 1999 and has not adhered to its five-year review schedule, making it inadequate for addressing current social justice, environmental, and health threats.
• While Bill S-5 introduces improvements to CEPA, health professionals argue it requires further amendments to fully protect human health and the environment. They advocate for the bill to be passed in a strengthened form by the end of 2022.
• To achieve a modernized act, the authors specify five necessary requirements: the recognition of the right to a healthy environment, prioritizing the prohibition of toxic substances, assessing cumulative risks to health and environment, implementing timelines for 'safer substitution' and toxic substance assessments, and establishing a reverse onus on business confidentiality claims to improve the right-to-know.
• The need for reform is supported by a 2017 review by the House Environment and Sustainable Development Committee, which generated 87 recommendations, and a 2018 letter from 500 scientists stating that Canada's pollution and toxins law is inadequate for today's chemicals and pollution sources.

APA

Strus, J. A., & Vipond, J. (2022). A prescription from health professionals: strengthen Canada’s toxics law. Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. https://cape.ca/opinion-a-prescription-from-health-professionals-strengthen-canadas-toxics-law/

Chicago

Strus, Jacqueline Avanthay, and Joe Vipond. A prescription from health professionals: strengthen Canada’s toxics law. Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, 2022. https://cape.ca/opinion-a-prescription-from-health-professionals-strengthen-canadas-toxics-law/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Strus |first1=Jacqueline Avanthay |last2=Vipond |first2=Joe |title=A prescription from health professionals: strengthen Canada’s toxics law |publisher=Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment |date=4 May 2022 |url=https://cape.ca/opinion-a-prescription-from-health-professionals-strengthen-canadas-toxics-law/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{strus2022prescription, author = {Strus, Jacqueline Avanthay and Vipond, Joe}, title = {{A prescription from health professionals: strengthen Canada’s toxics law}}, publisher = {Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment}, year = {2022}, month = may, url = {https://cape.ca/opinion-a-prescription-from-health-professionals-strengthen-canadas-toxics-law/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }