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Endocrine Disrupters
Endocrine-disrupting chemicals, such as dibutyl phthalate and ethoxylated nonyl phenols, can wreak toxic havoc in the environment, particularly among marine species. Endocrine disrupters, as these chemicals are known can mimic the effect of hormones or disrupt the hormone-producing organs, causing a host of problems, including reproductive failure. They can persist in the environment and can "bio-accumulate" in species such as orcas that are high on the food chain.
But environmental initiatives are beginning to change that picture dramatically.
Cleaning products are a key source of endocrine disrupters in the environment. According to Environment Canada, 56 per cent of the nonyl phenols and their ethoxylates (NPEs) that enter the environment come from cleaning products.
Endocrine disrupters as an ingredient in cleaning products are a key target for elimination and substitution in the Labour Environmental Alliance Society’s Cleaners, Toxins and the Ecosystem project. In all of the project worksites, LEAS has been working with health and safety committees to replace any cleaning products containing NPEs or dibutyl phthalate.
LEAS has also been part of Environment Canada’s advisory process to find a pollution control strategy for NPEs. Based on a Canadian Environmental Protection Act, NPEs have now been declared toxic to the environment and Environment Canada is currently working on a program to reduce and eventually ban their use.
LEAS, together with the Canadian Environmental Network has strongly supported the position that NPEs should be eliminated from all cleaning products used in Canada over the next five years. |
Also see our Endocrine Disruptors presentation.
Available in a web version or as a PowerPoint download version.
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