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WINNIPEG — The federal government is considering banning phosphates in a wide variety of household and industrial products.
Environment Canada plans to hire experts to analyze the “socioeconomic and environmental impacts” of proposed new restrictions on phosphates, according to a call for proposals issued Monday by the department.
The consultants will examine “several possible control scenarios, including a total ban on phosphorus in detergents and cleaning products” and report by next May.
Manitoba and Quebec have already announced plans to limit phosphate concentrations in dishwasher detergents to 0.5 per cent by 2010, and have called on Ottawa to follow suit.
“When someone puts soap in their dishwasher in Edmonton, that makes its way into Lake Winnipeg,” Manitoba Water Stewardship Minister Christine Melnick said Monday.
“We really need the sort of interjurisdictional co-operation that a national strategy would bring about.”
Ms. Melnick welcomed news of the federal study, saying federal Environment Minister John Baird, who was unavailable to comment Monday, has been non-committal on the issue.
Phosphates, which are concentrated phosphoric acids, lead to algae growth in water. They've been blamed for choking lakes and rivers in several provinces.
When the Great Lakes were threatened in the 1970s, the federal government limited the phosphate concentration in laundry detergents to 2.2 per cent.
Several American states have already passed laws to restrict phosphates in dishwasher detergents by 2010, and the Canadian Consumer Specialty Products Association — a lobby group that represents 86 per cent of detergent manufacturers — has voluntarily agreed to implementing the restrictions in Canada as well.
The Sierra Club of Canada and other environmental groups have pushed for the elimination of phosphates in many products, because dishwasher detergent phosphates account for only one per cent of the phosphorus in Canadian waterways.
Groups such as the Manitoba Eco Network argue farm fertilizers pose more of a problem and should be tightly controlled.
Manitoba may extend its phosphate restrictions to other household products such as lawn fertilizer after holding public consultations, Ms. Melnick said.
The federal restrictions could be much broader than those of Manitoba and Quebec. The consultants study will look not only at home products, but also at “commercial, institutional and industrial settings”, according to the call for proposals.
The government has set aside up to $67,500 for the study.
