Lead tops list of developmental toxicants released by industry into environment

Lead ranks as the top chemical linked to cancer, birth defects and other reproductive harm with releases totaling 43.4 million kg. This figure accounts for 24 percent of the total releases of all 77 developmental toxicants listed in the CEC's Taking Stock report, an annual study that compares industrial pollution data submitted by 24,192 facilities to the governments of Canada and the United States.

In the past, mobile sources were the major contributor of lead emissions to the atmosphere; however, policy and regulatory efforts in Canada and the United States have dramatically decreased lead concentrations in the environment. In the United States alone, lead concentrations in the air fell by 94 percent between 1983 and 2002.

Today, the major industrial sources of lead in the environment are primary metals facilities such as smelters (66 percent of industrial air emissions) and electric utilities (26 percent of industrial surface water discharges), although a diverse group of 7,040 facilities contributed to the overall releases.

"Government and industry have demonstrated success in reducing atmospheric pollution by making the switch to non-leaded fuels, but lead pollution is still a threat to human and environmental health and further progress is necessary," says William V. Kennedy, executive director of the CEC.

Lead is a persistent, bioaccumulative toxic substance that can cause developmental damage, especially in children. Even in small doses, lead exposure—primarily from deteriorated lead-based paint, or lead-contaminated air, water, soil or dust—has been associated with nervous system damage in fetuses and young children, resulting in learning deficits and lowered IQ.

Canadian facilities, representing five percent of the total facilities reporting lead and its compounds, accounted for 42 percent of air emissions in 2002. Ontario had the largest amount of lead air releases, with 145,000 kg, or 15 percent of the total, followed by Quebec and Manitoba. In fact, air releases of lead were on average more than thirteen times greater for Canadian facilities than for those in the United States.

Overall, 1.5 million tonnes of the 203 chemicals tracked in the report were released to the air, water, land and injected underground in Canada and the United States in 2002, with another one million tonnes transferred for recycling and one-half million tonnes transferred to energy recovery and treatment facilities. Releases have decreased by 11 percent over the last five years. Releases of carcinogens have also declined, falling 26 percent over the same time period.

Taking Stock analyzes comparable data from industrial facilities in Canada and the United States that report their releases and transfers of toxic chemicals to the air, land and water. Mexico has previously announced a mandatory and publicly accessible pollutant release and transfer register (PRTR) and has recently confirmed a list of 104 chemicals and will begin reporting data publicly in 2006.

Do you have a question about a particular facility, industrial sector, province or state? The Taking Stock Online web site allows users to customize reports by chemical, facility, sector or geographic region.

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