ACT: Oil spills in the ocean are toxic enough, adding COREXIT makes it 52 times more toxic. 
and ask them to ban COREXIT.
In yet another case of the Harper government ignoring scientific evidence and bending to the will of the oil industry, Environment Canada has recently announced that it will permit the use of the toxic chemical dispersant COREXIT to clean up offshore oil spills in Canada. This decision comes a the behest of Shell Canada, and is dangerously misguided, ignoring scientific evidence that the chemical presents a serious threat to marine wildlife and ecosystems.
Oil spills in the ocean are toxic enough, adding COREXIT makes it 52 times more toxic. and ask them to ban COREXIT.
COREXIT has already been banned in other countries and there is simply no conceivable reason for the government to approve the use of this toxin given its known dangers and the availability of better alternatives. Environment Canada is requesting that the public comment on this decision before Monday, August 3.
COREXIT is one of a group of oil dispersant chemical products manufactured by Nalco Holding Company and it works by breaking up oil into small droplets, dispersing existing slicks on water or on shores or preventing them from forming. Dispersants deceptively reduce the visual impact of oil on the surface of the ocean, but they do not actually destroy or remove it and may, by making it disperse and sink below the surface, increase exposure to oil for other marine life.
COREXIT was used in massive quantities to clean up the 2010 Deepwater Horizon blowout and two decades earlier in the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. In the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a directive requiring BP, the company responsible, to identify a less toxic alternative for its dispersants. EPA Chief Lisa Jackson acknowledged at the time that the chemical is carcinogenic, mutagenic and highly toxic, and that it is unclear how much damage it was causing to marine life in deep water. A 2011 independent analysis of the 57 chemicals in COREXIT confirmed its toxicity and other peer-reviewed studies have shown that the use of COREXIT can increase the exposure of some marine organisms, including fish, to the more toxic components of oil. We also have no idea of the potential impacts of COREXIT in Arctic waters where temperature, turbidity and sea ice make ocean conditions vastly different from the Gulf of Mexico. COREXIT is not approved for use in the UK because of ongoing concerns related to its use on rocky shores and the availability of less hazardous alternatives.
And it's not just Canada's waters and wildlife at stake. If COREXIT is used in the Eastern Arctic, it could travel to Greenland, putting that biologically sensitive area at risk as well. Similarly, if the dispersant were to be used in Canada's western Arctic, the toxins could make their way to Alaska's shores. Like climate change, toxic pollutants in our oceans don't respect national boundaries.
Chemicals like COREXIT are not solutions to oil spills. They simply change the oil into a different form and increase the toxic burden on our oceans. Environment Canada must reconsider this ill-conceived and misinformed decision.
ACT: Oil spills in the ocean are toxic enough, adding COREXIT makes it 52 times more toxic. and ask them to ban COREXIT.