What people are saying about the Guide to Less Toxic Products

June, 2006

Who is using the Guide to Less Toxic Products, EHANS’ popular on line resource? Amazing numbers of people, from many walks of life. An average of 300 people per day have used the Guide over the past year. Since the Guide was a featured link on Marketplace’s Chasing the Cancer Answer, in March 2006, more than 600 people per day have consulted the Guide at www.lesstoxicguide.ca.

The Toronto Globe and Mail referred to the Guide in their hard hitting series, Toxic Shock, June 2006. Environmental Defense Canada included the Guide to Less Toxic Products as a reference in their reportsToxic Nation, which focused on the body burden of chemicals found in Canadians, (www.toxicnation.ca) and Polluted Children, Toxic Nation (http://www.environmentaldefence.ca/reports/toxicnationFamily.htm). Clean Nova Scotia uses material from the Guide in their Tox-Free education campaigns.
The Guide has also been mentioned in the superb series on health hazards in beauty products in the Ottawa Citizen, in an item on less toxic bathroom cleaners in Chatelaine Magazine,and in an article on Less Toxic Spas in esthemag pro.

People across Canada and abroad are using The Guide to Less Toxic Products to help themselves and others find ways to switch to products which are healthier for humans and the environment. Below are a sampling of the letters EHANS has received in recent months.

I'm a director of the Sunshine Coast Conservation Association, a non-profit group in BC. We're in the process of producing a "Living Toxin Free" brochure for use in our part of Canada. The brochure will provide information about common, potentially toxic household products, offer alternatives, list some brand recommendations and offer information about local disposal sites and best practices. Your Guide to Less Toxic Products is easily the best and most comprehensive website we've ever seen on this subject area, and we'd like to refer readers to it and also mention some of the BC-based products you describe (with full credit to your Guide). May we have your permission?
Thanks,
Andrew Scott


Thank you for providing this information! We would like to pass this information on to our residents via our residents association newsletter. Environmental illnesses are on the increase and we would like to make more information available.
Again, thank you for your dedication to this project.
Regards,
Dianne Eddy, President, Mapleguard Ratepayers' Association, Deep Bay, Vancouver Island


Hello. I am the Editor-in-Chief for a small feminist ezine entitled Edwards Magazine. One of our mandates is to highlight issues of health, and of course cancer ranks right up there when speaking of health concerns of Canadians.
In wake of the Marketplace Report which aired on CBC last weekend, I know many Canadians are anxious to learn more about chemicals, their harmful side effects, and what consumers can do to avoid them in the products we use.
I'm wondering if we could obtain permission to link to your site. ...Our readers are always looking for resources to find the information they need and I think your site is fantastic for presenting this information in a straight-forward, easy-to-understand manner.
Best,
Christine Gordon Manley, Editor-in-Chief, Edwards Magazine, www.edwardsmagazine.ca


I am the coordinator of the environment education program for Scouts in Western Australia.
The National Association recently introduced a new badge, called the Water Wise Badge. One of the requirements of this badge is to research and compile an environmentally friendly cleaning kit.
I am currently working at compiling a resource folder for leaders, to assist them with instructing the youth members about the badge requirements. After much searching on the internet, I came across your site. I found it very informative and very easy to understand.
I am writing to ask permission to include the information contained within the Household Cleaners section in this resource folder. Your site would receive full recognition, and we would refer any enquiries to your site.
Angela Hein, Branch Activity Leader - Environment, Scouts Western Australia

Spring 2004

"For all of us who know that we are exposed to toxic chemicals every minute of our lives but feel helpless to do much about it, here is an opportunity to take some responsibility."
David Suzuki, scientist and environmentalist

"This [Guide] is wonderful !!! Congratulations to the AEHA on what must have been a mammoth project. We will certainly be letting our patients know about it, as it applies the precautionary principle, suggesting the most likely safest product choices, given the available scientific evidence. Hopefully, the Guide will stimulate further research in this important, yet neglected consumer health area."
Dr. Lynn Marshall, Medical Director, Environmental Health Clinic
Sunnybrook & Women's College Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, ON

"This Guide provides what we all hoped the Internet would deliver years ago -- uncommercial, clear, unbiased information produced by a non-profit group with nothing to sell. Print off pages and take them with you when you shop. You and the planet will be healthier for it!"
Heidi Ship, Complementary Health practitioner

"This guide is extremely important and helpful in a timely way. The epidemic of cancers that we are all facing is intimately tied to chemical use, although conventional medicine often fails to face this obvious link. Recent mainstream scientific evidence linking chemicals in tap water to miscarriages is a wake-up call. Educating the public about less toxic products is absolutely essential for the health of humans, other species and our planet. Thank you so much for your work in producing and disseminating this information."
Elisabeth Gold, MD, Halifax, NS

"Many thanks to the Nova Scotia Allergy and Environmental Health Association for this extremely helpful guide to avoiding unnecessary toxic threats in our homes."
Elizabeth May, Executive Director, Sierra Club of Canada

"Hi Folks, Your web site is very impressive. Very good to see someone taking some action on this crucial subject."
Site Visitor

"I can't tell you how wonderful your new site is. not only to me as a severe multiple chemical/environmental allergy person, but to educate others to the effects of scents, chemicals etc. to someone like me... Keep up the good work!! "
Site Visitor

"Thank you for this amazing resource. It is a challenge being sensitive to so many artificial and natural scents, flavors, colors, preservatives, additives...etc. I have been recovering from serious debility and post traumatic stress, and detoxing my life has made a huge difference. ... it is information like yours that has made it possible! "
Site Visitor

Help Fund Guide to Less Toxic Products

The Guide to Less Toxic Products has been on-line for over two years. EHANS is seeking funding to bring existing sections of the Guide up to date and to add three new sections: Pest Control, Building Materials, and Special Needs.

If you belong to an organization which might support this widely used resource, we can provide any information you need to promote this idea to your organization. Contact us by email at feedback@environmentalhealth.ca, or 1-800-449-1995.

If you have experience writing funding proposals and would like to assist EHANS in developing proposals to submit to funding bodies, contact us at the address above.