Environment committee  Thank you very much. Good morning, Mr. Chair and honourable members of the committee. My name is Marion Axmith. I'm the director general of the Vinyl Council of Canada, which is a council of the Canadian Plastics Industry Association. I've been with CPIA for 24 years and I've w

Environment committee  Mr. McGuinty, as I mentioned in my presentation, I have proposed a couple of amendments to the bill. Our perspective is that we have a CEPA review process for the review of chemicals, for their risk assessment, and for their risk management. If you, as a committee, have concern

Environment committee  I know, Mr. McGuinty, that the industries, whether they are the medical devices industry, the vinyl industry, or the phthalate industry, have done their homework, have participated in studies, and have supported studies over many decades. With regard to the environmental groups

Environment committee  I defer to the scientists and the toxicologists on this, but my understanding, and Marian Stanley can explain further, is that phthalates are not retained in the body. They pass through the body. So if a patient, an infant, a child, an adult, were treated with a device containing

Environment committee  That depends on the chemical.

Environment committee  Possibly, in some cases.

Environment committee  No, possibly, in some cases, and not—

Environment committee  I think on that particular report, where Health Canada was coming from, they did express concern about sensitive sub-populations. And to be precautionary about it, they were recommending that if alternatives exist to treat those sensitive sub-populations, if they're available, th

Environment committee  Of course.

Environment committee  Yes, specifically I made that comment. It was specifically on teethers and soft rattles.

Environment committee  Soft rattles.

Environment committee  As I said before, they are not in teethers and soft rattles, things intended to be put into the mouths of children.

Environment committee  Health Canada—and you would have to ask them for the studies—have been pulling these products off the shelves since 1998 and testing them.

Environment committee  With regard to DBP and what is on slide 4, I can't think of a vinyl product where DBP is used. With regard to DEHP, as we've mentioned, it's products that are inflatable, like beach balls, water wings, and that sort of thing, and raincoats, rain boots.

Environment committee  The reason for eliminating phthalate from those items back in 1998--and it was industry that stepped up and voluntarily withdrew phthalate out of teethers and soft rattles--was that it was done as a precautionary measure pending further research. That's a very important part of t