Lead Paint Toy Recall Highlights Need for Governmental Action
ACORN Canada Calls for National Task Force on Lead

For Immediate Release: June 15, 2007

Toronto – A recall of Thomas the Tank Engine toys, which were coated in
lead paint, is a timely reminder of the need for action to ensure Canadian
communities are lead safe, says ACORN Canada. Nearly 1.5 million of the
toys were recalled, including 90,000 in Canada. The popular toys, which
were sold between 2005 and 2007, highlight the need for urgent action by
all levels of Canadian government to address the issue of lead paint.

Earlier this year, ACORN Canada published the report Paint Poisoned Homes,
which chronicles the dangers of lead paint poisoning from older homes.
While lead has been effectively phased out of paint, many homes built as
recently as 1991 may still pose a health risk of lead poisoning. The
report is available online, at www.canada.acorn.org.

Based on data from Health Canada and Statistics Canada, ACORN estimates
that between 160,000 and 320,000 Canadian children have elevated blood
lead levels. The health impacts of childhood lead poisoning include
anemia, nervous system damage, poorer speech and language processing,
disordered classroom behaviour, and inability to follow directions.
Studies have also linked long-term lead exposure to brain, kidney and
reproductive organ damage. There is no safe level of lead exposure.

ACORN Canada is urging the following actions from the federal government
to eliminate lead poisoning in Canada:

* Create a national task force to examine the lead exposure issue in
detail and hold public hearings on this issue;
* Establish a lead remediation fund in every high-risk community in
Canada, working with ACORN Canada, other nonprofits, and local housing and
health departments;
* Introduce a Lead Safe Communities Act, which would include funding for
countrywide mapping of communities based on housing age and child blood
lead level testing;
* Investigate ways to require Sherwin-Williams, and other responsible
paint companies, to help clean up the lead paint problem, which they
created.

ABOUT ACORN CANADA

ACORN Canada’s central purpose is to effectively represent and champion
the interests of Canada’s low- and moderate-income urban citizens on the
critical issues of social and economic justice. We believe transforming
the conditions that adversely affect millions of Canadians can best be
achieved with an active national membership – members deeply invested in
their organization and focused clearly on lasting, transformative
socio-economic change.

-30-


www.canada.acorn.org

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