Canada needs a cohesive environmental strategy that includes more monitoring of people's exposures to environmental contaminants, a strengthening of environmental laws, and increased awareness about these issues, says a new report.

On Tuesday, the David Suzuki Foundation released the 152-page report, Prescription for a Healthy Canada. David Boyd, an environmental lawyer and a senior associate with the University of Victoria, prepared the report based on a review of more than 100 recent scientific studies.

The report notes that one of Canada's failings is a lack of legally-binding national standards for air quality and drinking water quality.
(CBC)

It states that environmental pollution is leading to the deaths of thousands of Canadians each year as well as contributing to asthma, gastrointestinal illness, poisonings, cancer, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease and others.

"There is compelling evidence that at least 10,000 people die prematurely in Canada because of exposure to environmental hazards in air, water, food, and consumer products," Boyd told CBCNews.ca on Tuesday.

"Millions of Canadians become ill because of exposure to pathogens and contaminants. The costs to Canada of environmental impacts on health are in the tens of billions annually."

Yet Canada trails other countries in protecting its population from these threats, says the report. It says Canada lacks a national system to track diseases and deaths from environmental causes.

It also has failed to introduce a national program to monitor children's exposures to environmental contaminants such as lead, "an environmental hazard that has been recognized for decades," according to Boyd.

"Whereas the U.S. tests the blood lead levels of one million children every year, Canada has not done a national blood lead level study since 1979."

The report identifies four areas that it considers failings on the part of the federal government:

• A lack of legally binding national standards for air quality and drinking water quality.
• The continued use of pesticides that have been banned in other countries.
• The allowance of higher limits of pesticide residues on foods compared to other countries.
• A lack of regulation of toxins such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers, phthalates and polycyclic hydrocarbons.
• Weak regulations for toxic substances such as radon, lead, mercury, arsenic and asbestos.

"We must learn from the past," reads the report. "Our failure to regulate lead, benzene, sulphur, CFCs [chlorofluorocarbons], mercury, PCBs and other toxic substances in a timely fashion has resulted in significant costs."

"If politicians took the time to understand both the magnitude of adverse health effects caused by environmental hazards and the overall costs to Canadian society, they would have no choice but to act," said Boyd.