Abstract
ObjectivesThe goal of this study was to leverage data from two environmental regulatory initiatives, Ontario’s Toxics Reduction Act (TRA) and Canada’s National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI), to assess their ability to monitor trends in the use and emission of carcinogens by industry sector in Ontario.MethodsData reported to the TRA and NPRI by industrial facilities in Ontario were retrieved from 2011 to 2015. Twenty-six known and suspected carcinogens were identified (IARC) and the trends in the use and emission were evaluated by industry sector. The locations of industrial facilities that used and released carcinogens were mapped by Public Health Unit (PHU).ResultsChemical manufacturing and primary metal manufacturing sectors accounted for 84% of all reported industrial use of carcinogens during the period 2011–2015. The largest source of carcinogen emissions came from facilities in the primary metal manufacturing and paper manufacturing sectors. The largest number of industrial facilities that reported the use and release of carcinogens were located in the City of Toronto and Peel Region PHUs. Overall, the use of carcinogens across all sectors appeared to decrease by 8%, while emissions increased by about 2%.ConclusionThe results of this study show the need to reduce the use and emission of select carcinogens in priority industry sectors. Environmental reporting programs, such as the TRA and NPRI, can serve as important tools in cancer prevention by tracking potential carcinogen exposures in the environment and in the workplace.
Highlights
About one out of every two Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime (Canadian Cancer Society’s Advisory Committee on Cancer Statistics 2017)
Facilities report their emissions of contaminants that may impact human health and the environment to Environment and Climate Change Canada’s (ECCC) National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) (Environment and Climate Change Canada 2016)
The chemical manufacturing and primary metal manufacturing sectors together accounted for 84% of all carcinogen use across all sectors
Summary
About one out of every two Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime (Canadian Cancer Society’s Advisory Committee on Cancer Statistics 2017). In Ontario, it is estimated that over 3000 cancer cases could be prevented each year if exposures to carcinogens in the workplace were reduced (Cancer Care Ontario, Occupational Cancer Research Centre 2017), and an additional 1970 cases if exposures to industrial carcinogens were reduced (Cancer Care Ontario, Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion 2016). These estimates demonstrate the need to reduce the industrial use and emission of carcinogens in Ontario. Chemical releases have been systematically monitored across various industrial facilities for some time in Canada, with environmental emissions data going as far back as 1993 (Environment and Climate Change Canada 2017). We utilized data from Ontario’s TRA to examine carcinogen use and release trends by cancer site (Slavik et al 2017)
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