On Friday December 8th 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a “substantial investment in public funds” to clean up dangerous chemicals in the environment. The list of chemicals includes some already proven harmful to animals and suspected to be potentially harmful to human health. Every two or three months, a list of suspect chemicals will be released in groups of 15 to 30. Industry and stakeholders will be required, within six months, to provide information the government about the chemicals. If the government is not satisfied by the response, industry will be required to take action which in some cases may mean industry would be required to provide alternative materials. In conjunction with the announcement, the government also launched a Chemical Substance website which details how the assessments will work and provides links to fact sheets on chemical impact to human health, and government resources and processes for managing chemical assessments. The website also includes a list of chemicals not banned but regulated and of “interest to Canadians” because of the risks associated with them. Two of these chemicals, 2-Butoxyethanol and 2-Methoxyethanol, are of significant interest to the cleaning and disinfection industry as they are commonly used as solvents in both cleaners and disinfectants.
