Mr. Speaker, hundreds of thousands of Canadian workers have been exposed to lead while in the workplace. I rise today to present a petition pointing out that exposure to lead needs close monitoring and that standard practices in Canada involve collecting blood samples instead of bone samples.
The petitioners note that blood samples have been proven to be less effective and much more costly than testing one's exposure in a bone sample. They also note that bone measurements are collected through non-invasive scans and can show the long-term cumulative effects of lead exposure. Lead exposure can have extremely detrimental impacts on one's health and can even be fatal.
Therefore, the petitioners are calling on the government to test individuals for lead exposure with bone data instead of blood data to create a more effective and cost-efficient standard of practice.