Health Committee on Oct. 21st, 2010

[Michel Arnold, Executive Director, Option consommateurs]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Good afternoon, committee members.

This is the third time that Option consommateurs has appeared before you. We are here to support Bill C-36, An Act respecting the safety of consumer products. As was said earlier, the present Hazardous Products Act dates back to 1969 and lacks the tools to provide adequate consumer protection in 2010.

As the minister said this morning, the world has changed since the Hazardous Products Act was passed 40 years ago. The products that Canadians buy today, toys in particular, come from around the world. By adapting the legislative framework for consumer product safety to the realities of the 21st century, Canada is aligning with its main trade partners, such as the United States and Europe. It is also providing the government with tools to order product recalls, combat counterfeiting and guarantee the quality assurance of products sold in Canada in order to increase the trust of Canadian consumers.

Thanks to Bill C-36, which incidentally constitutes an improvement to Bill C-6, stakeholders, from manufacturers to merchants, will be responsible for the safety of the products they market in Canada.

This new act will also enable the Minister of Health to intervene quickly for the purpose of withdrawing hazardous products from the market through better monitoring and quality control by the manufacturer, wherever products are sold.

In addition, the clauses concerning information disclosure are essential to enable the minister to react quickly where there is a danger to Canadians.

The obligation to inform authorities about hazardous products is an important aspect for improving market monitoring and risk management.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Could I just interrupt you for a minute? I'll give you back the time, but the translators can't keep up to you. So, as much as I want you to do it within the three minutes, please slow down so they can translate.

Thank you.

[Michel Arnold]

For example, various European stakeholders in the supply chain have been informing their national authorities since 2001. This makes it possible both to show that they have implemented necessary corrective measures and to verify whether other similar products are on the market.

Allow me to remind you that injuries caused by consumer products are the first cause of death among children under four years of age.

In 2007, Option consommateurs embarked on one of the largest voluntary recalls of toys made by Mattel. No fewer than 21 million toys were subject to the recall. As of September 30—and I believe we talked about this this morning as well—Fisher-Price also recalled 11 million products that had raised serious safety concerns. Among other things, that recall included tricycles and miniature cars.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Thank you.

We'll now go to Safe Kids Canada, Pamela Fuselli, please.

[Pamela Fuselli, Executive Director, Safe Kids Canada]

Thank you for the opportunity to speak today and share Safe Kids Canada's views on the importance of passing Bill C-36, the consumer product safety act.

Safe Kids Canada is a national leader in preventable injuries. We work to advance the safety and reduce the burden of injury to Canadian children and youth. Our goal is to reduce unintentional injuries, which is the leading cause of death, and we welcome the opportunity to share with this committee our opinion that the revised and modernized system for consumer product safety is needed to safeguard the health of all Canadians, including some of its most vulnerable members—our children.

The measures contained in Bill C-36 update the current consumer product safety legislation and are designed to provide the government with a proactive and efficient means for responding to dangers posed by consumer products. The injuries inflicted due to unsafe products are preventable. They constitute a direct drain on the resources of our overburdened health care system and an indirect burden as a result of time lost in school and work.

Safe Kids Canada acknowledges that the consumer product landscape is complex and global. More and more products are now available on the market. Bill C-36 would close gaps in the current legislation to put Canada on par with our international partners.

The data on injury prevention and child health is revealing. Survey results have demonstrated that the vast majority of Canadians believe that if a product is available for sale on the market, it is safe and has been tested for safety. We know this is not necessarily the case.

Injuries to children from the use of consumer products are common, frequently serious, and sometimes fatal. According to CHIRPP, the Canadian hospital injury reporting and prevention program, which collects information on the emergency departments of 15 hospitals across Canada every year, over 14,000 pediatric emergency room visits are as a result of children under the age of 10 who have been injured by consumer products found in or around the home.

While some argue that consumer products have a low-risk profile, the potential health consequences from a dangerous product can be significant, affecting the individuals, their families, and their communities.

Parental concern, supervision, and vigilance are needed to protect children. Canadian parents deserve to be aided as much as possible in this by their government by the institution of a robust consumer product safety system.

Several examples demonstrate some of the limitations of Canada's current regulatory system. In 2006 Health Canada established a board of review in response to a request to rescind the ban on baby walkers. Safe Kids Canada and the injury prevention community presented the evidence and supported a ban to the board, and we were relieved in 2007 when the decision to uphold the ban, after reviewing the board's finding, was announced.

While this was a good outcome, the process was resource-intensive for both the federal government and the key non-profit and health sectors participating. The onus needs to be reversed. Producers, distributors, retailers, and standard developers should have the responsibility to build safety into the design of products before they reach the market and to take immediate corrective action when risks are identified with the items for sale.

Recent recall notices for such products as strollers and cribs have demonstrated that we continue to be reliant on the U.S. for notification about hazardous products on the market.

Bill C-36 is a positive step towards a proactive consumer product safety system in Canada because it includes three main pillars: active prevention, targeted oversight, and rapid response. These three pillars comprise the crux of Bill C-36 and ensure it will achieve its goal of safeguarding the health and safety of Canadians.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Thank you very much.

We'll now go to Mr. Walter, executive director of the Standards Council of Canada.

[John Walter, Executive Director, Standards Council of Canada]

Good afternoon, and thank you very much.

I am the executive director of the Standards Council of Canada. As a former vice-president of the Canadian Standards Association and CEO of the Technical Standards & Safety Authority of Ontario, I have been involved with standards and product safety for much of my professional career. Over the years there has been a steady increase in product recalls in Canada, from 32 in 2006 to over 250 today.

As Canada's national accreditation body, the Standards Council of Canada accredits standards development organizations and certification bodies, as well as products and services inspections and testing organizations, and we approve national standards of Canada. The Standards Council of Canada and those of our stakeholders who were consulted on Bill C-36 fully support and endorse this new act.

In terms of the current standardization landscape in Canada as it relates to consumer product safety, it is worth noting that the required networks of standards, legislation, and conformity assessment experts to ensure the safety and performance of consumer products is highly complex. Yet standardization is the most effective instrument to advance public policy objectives in this regard.

At the international level, the Standards Council is Canada's member body to the International Organization for Standardization, ISO, and to a number of international accreditation forums. The importance of this topic is recognized in Europe, Australia, and the U.S., which are all moving in similar directions, and Canada must ensure we have appropriate linkages.

Let me turn my attention to how standardization will support some of the key provisions of this bill. The prohibitions in clauses 5 to 11 will require standardization to help instill important guidelines for product manufacturers. The corrective measures provision in the act refers to recalls and allows for quicker government responses to address an emerging health or safety issue. And certainly with industry obligations, responsible manufacturers and distributors looking to promote a sense of accountability can rely on standards to clearly highlight what guidelines need to be followed.

In closing, let me reiterate that if the bill is passed, it will provide some of the necessary underpinnings for strengthening consumer product safety in Canada. I would like to thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak today, and I would like to assure the Government of Canada that you can count on the support of the Standards Council and our network of standardization experts as we strive toward a safer marketplace for consumers.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Thank you, Mr. Walter, for your very insightful comments. It's very much appreciated by the committee.

We'll now go into our first round. We're back to our regular time, so it's seven minutes Q and A, and we'll start with Dr. Duncan.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Before I begin my questioning, I have to address something that was said earlier. I asked the minister about the 93%, and the response I got was that it was simple. The amount of cadmium is not simple. If a child puts a medallion of a necklace in their mouth, what is the amount actually in their mouth, what is the exposure, and how does that compare to the maximum acceptable concentration and to the ISO standard?

I'd also like to point out that an advisory was posted on the website last January regarding cadmium and a statement was released this week. I will also address that people are having difficulties finding out on the website what those toys are, and perhaps this can be addressed.

I want to thank all the witnesses for coming. We appreciate your time and we appreciate your comments.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Dr. Duncan, could we have someone on the committee respond to your comments?

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Yes.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Would anyone on the committee like to do that?

Okay, go ahead, Dr. Duncan.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'm wondering how Safe Kids Canada feels about cadmium in children's jewellery and how they feel about a nine-month delay in addressing this.

[Pamela Fuselli]

Cadmium is something we consult about with our toxicologists at the Hospital for Sick Children as a poisoning kind of injury, for certain. I don't have technical expertise on the actual substance, but certainly the quicker that products get off the market that are causing injury or have the potential to cause serious injury to children, the better for us.

From the surveys we have done with parents and from talking anecdotally with them, they assume that if they're buying products on the market they are safe, they have been tested, and not that it's going to be reactionary--that when they find injuries are coming out of these products, then there will be testing and advisories and things like that.

So in general, I would say our preference would be to get those products off the market as soon as possible.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Thank you. I appreciate that.

I'll just again say that this was posted in January and the release was this week.

I will now turn this over to my colleague Dr. Dhalla.

[Ruby Dhalla, Liberal, Brampton—Springdale, ON]

Thank you once again for coming and sharing some of your perspectives and insight.

I wanted to just touch upon two questions. One of the questions I had asked the minister about was in regard to a mandatory recall registry. I know, Mr. Arnold and Ms. Bose, you have been before this committee before, and I actually mentioned the name of your organization in my question. One of the suggestions or recommendations that you had made was having the requirement of a mandatory recall registry, and now there is a registry that exists, and the minister and her officials committed to keeping this. I am a little bit surprised that we wouldn't actually implement it in the legislation, and perhaps that's one of the recommendations that we as a committee can make. Perhaps you could please share your thoughts on the importance of having a mandatory registry so consumers and parents would be able to access it and receive information in a timely manner, but also to be able to exchange ideas on what cribs have been recalled, and what jewellery products. And the list goes on.

So perhaps you could share some insight into that.

[Michel Arnold]

We recommended this kind of national recall registry when the other bills were studied. Our understanding of Bill C-36 leads us to believe that it may not be possible to have a national registry as we were requesting, but that it will be possible to have a tool that will enable consumers to obtain information. I would say that what is even more important is that Bill C-36 gives the minister the authority to order recalls. That's really something we are calling for. In our view, that's a really important aspect of this bill.

However, to answer your question honestly, we would have to see whether this bill doesn't afford the opportunity to establish the registry that we suggested.

[Ruby Dhalla, Liberal, Brampton—Springdale, ON]

I have another question to perhaps all the witnesses. As a committee, as you all know, this bill has a very long history. There's been a lot of time and effort spent on it, and hopefully the final outcome is going to benefit consumers, and ultimately make products, especially for young kids, a lot safer. If you were to provide your ideas and suggestions for any other additional amendments, because you obviously have the expertise and deal with this on a day-to-day basis, could you please share that with the committee so that we could take a look at them when it's going through its final stages?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Ms. Bose.

[Anu Bose, Head, Ottawa Office, Option consommateurs]

Option consommateurs does not have any amendments. Option consommateurs would like this to go through as soon as possible so that the parents and grandparents and children could all sleep easier before the gift-giving season really arrives. We're coming up on Halloween, when there's a plethora of things on the market. They are dangerous and we have no way of controlling these. So, please, members of Parliament, can we get this through as fast as possible?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Thank you.

You have about 30 seconds left.

[Ruby Dhalla, Liberal, Brampton—Springdale, ON]

Mr. Simonds, do you have any ideas?

[Robert Simonds]

I concur with my colleague in that regard. I believe that further analysis could obviously derive perhaps additional methods in which to enhance this, but I believe at this time we should be poised to move forward.

[Ruby Dhalla, Liberal, Brampton—Springdale, ON]

Great. Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Thank you.

Monsieur Dufour.