Chemical Substances and Your Health
Chemicals and Your Health
The health of the public can be affected by environmental factors including chemicals that pollute the air, water and land. Exposure to chemicals can occur in homes, workplaces and outside.
Smog-forming pollutants and other chemical substances come from different sources. Some come from sources outside the city, others from inside the city itself. Making electricity, heating buildings, driving cars and commercial and industrial activities are all contributors to pollution. Air quality mostly depends on what sources exist in neighbourhoods and how weather patterns carry pollutants in the air.
ChemTRAC was developed to help better understand where some of these chemicals come from and to encourage pollution prevention to protect health. ChemTRAC collects information about 25 priority chemicals from businesses. Similar programs have lead to reductions in chemicals used and released from facilities.
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Using the ChemTRAC System To Understand Businesses Around You
ChemTRAC data can not be used to show the level of human exposure. ChemTRAC data only shows the use and release of chemicals from facilities in Toronto.
How to use the ChemTRAC Data Disclosure System:
Explore your neighbourhood
- Using the searchable map, enter an address or postal code and the map will automatically re-centre on the neighbourhood. The blue icons represent facilities that have reported to ChemTRAC in the most recent year.
- If you want to learn more about a particular business in your community, click on an icon. By doing this, you will get a pop-up window with some brief information on the business.
Get to know local businesses with their ChemTRAC Business Profile
- Use the search functions, or select the business from the alphabetical list.
- Click on the icon that represents the business on the map, and select "Substance Use and Release". This will open a page where all of the data submitted to ChemTRAC by the business is available. If the business identified itself as being exempt from reporting, or below reporting threshold, no chemical data will be available.
- Once there, view the Environmental Statement. This information is provided voluntarily by the business to offer some insight into their pollution prevention activities.
Put your knowledge to work - learn more about how you can encourage businesses to go green.
The Types of Businesses you will find in the ChemTRAC system:
ChemTRAC reporting is being phased in over three years.
Reporting Phase-In for Environmental Reporting and Disclosure Bylaw
| Phase One Submit 2010 data by June 30, 2011 Data now available |
Phase Two Submit 2011 data by June 30, 2012 Data available 2013 |
Phase Three Submit 2012 data by June 30, 2013 Data available 2014 |
|---|---|---|
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Affected sectors:
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Affected sectors: Phase One, and:
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Affected sectors: Phases One and Two, and all other sectors covered by bylaw (such as small manufacturing) |
Once all three phases have reported, in 2013, ChemTRAC will be able to display data that covers all applicable businesses in Toronto. Until that time, the data you are viewing in the Disclosure System only represents a partial sample of all businesses that will eventually report. Due to this limitation of the data, it is not possible to compare businesses that are reporting, nor is it possible to compare sectors.
Last updated June 2012
