Here, there and everywhere: Environmental chemicals and contaminants

Transcript

Transcript

[Healthy Canadians logo with pulse sound]

[Music]

Megan Beahen: Welcome to Healthy Canadians, your space for nuanced conversations and expert insights into the health topics that matter to us all. I'm your host, Megan Beahen. With me, Alex Newman, co-host and producer.

Alex Newman: Hey Megan, how you doing?

Megan: Good, thanks. How are you?

Alex: I'm doing okay. Over the past three and a half years or so, though, I've been a little stressed out.

Megan: Oh no, how come?

Alex: Well, three and a half years ago... I became a parent.

Megan: That makes sense.

Alex: Yeah. But it's stuff in particular, right? So, when my son was born, I started becoming hyper aware of all the things around me, like what chemical is in this product over here, or what particles are floating around in the air in my son's room or the living room. So, I think hopefully today's conversation is going to be a little bit helpful for me.

Megan: I think it is going to be helpful. We're talking about environmental chemicals and we're talking to Tyler Pollack. He's going to ease your fears a little bit because he's a scientist in the Environmental Health Science and Research Bureau at Health Canada.

Alex: Okay, interesting. Okay. Well, before we get jump in though, a little bit of housekeeping. So, although Healthy Canadians is produced by Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada, what we discuss won't always reflect the official positions or policies of the government of Canada, but that's okay. These are conversations, not news releases.

Megan: Let's talk about environmental chemicals.

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Megan: Hi Tyler. Welcome to Healthy Canadians.

Tyler Pollock: Happy to be here.

Megan: So, Tyler, let's jump right in. What do you do at Health Canada?

Tyler: So, I'm a scientist, part of a team that works on the National Biomonitoring Program. That's a lot of words, but it essentially means that we measure environmental chemicals in people in the Canadian population.

And so my job sort of spans the entire spectrum of the National Biomonitoring Program, all the way from discussing with our partners and our stakeholders, you know, in planning the program, in planning which chemicals we might measure, all the way through to implementing them as part of what's known as the Canadian Health Measure Survey. And then on the sort of backend is more the data analysis. Once we get the results in, once we know the levels of environmental chemicals in people, we can analyze those data and we can answer questions about how those chemicals are related to the population and are related to things like health outcomes in the population.

Alex: Okay. Interesting. So, what makes you passionate about this? What motivates you?

Tyler: Yeah. So, I'm interested in the environmental chemicals. It's sort of my background. I got into it, I would say when I was in university, I took a biology and a psychology program at McMaster University in Hamilton. And so, it kind of was the intersection of, you know, how we think about things in the world from the psychology perspective. And then the biology lended itself well to, you know, the like cellular mechanisms for all the things that are happening in our bodies.

And then I had an opportunity sort of when I was wrapping up those studies to look more closely into environmental chemicals and specifically how the various environmental chemicals that we might be exposed to interact in our bodies. And then sort of how we can make decisions in our daily lives about how to, you know, reduce our exposures to those chemicals.

Megan: That's super cool. And so, over the years that you've been doing this work, has anything changed in the world of environmental chemicals?

Tyler: Yeah. So, that's a really good question. It's, I would say it's always changing. There's always, you know, new chemicals being produced. There's always a new regulation coming into effect. There's decisions being made by, you know, companies that make products and, you know, companies that might be using these chemicals. And so, it's sort of like an always evolving perspective or angle on which chemicals people might be exposed to.

Megan: Cool. And does our understanding also sort of evolve as well?

Tyler: Yeah, absolutely. So, from the work that I do with Health Canada, of course, we're always considering and measuring new chemicals sort of ones that we haven't measured in the past to understand the levels in the Canadian population.

And that sort of goes alongside any decisions that we might be aware of from like companies using these chemicals or people's behaviours around using these chemicals or even things like new regulations that come into place.

Megan: Cool. And what are environmental chemicals?

Tyler: That seems like it should be the most straightforward answer...

[Laughter]

Tyler: But it's actually one of... it's challenging to really define, but I'll give you a, you know, the way that we think about it.

So, an environmental chemical is really any compound or element that exists in the environment. And so, it could be in things like the air, it could be in water, it could be in the soil, it could be sort of in the earth's crust.

Or it could be in things that we use every day, like household products you know, things like children's toys, cosmetics, personal care products, the furniture in our homes. So, there's a... it's pretty big, you know, wide net definition.

Alex: Yeah. And we were talking a bit before too, but sort of a lot of people say environmental contaminants too, when we're talking about this stuff. And there's kind of a distinction too right between why we're saying chemicals more than someone might be thinking environmental contaminants, right?

Tyler: Yeah. So, it's a pretty nuanced distinction. I'm sure there are a lot of really, you know, scientific experts in the field that would have a slightly different nuanced definition than myself.

But you know, for me, environmental chemicals is a little bit wider of a net. It could be really any naturally occurring, or human made chemicals that exist in the environment.

Whereas an environmental contaminant, in my mind, is a little more emphasis on the human made chemicals and ones that could be, you know, either by accident or intentionally released into the environment. So, you can think of things like chemical spills, for example.

Megan: And what risks do they pose to our health?

Tyler: That is the million-dollar question.

[Laughter]

Megan: That's what you're working on, right?

Tyler: Yeah. That's the ultimate goal of, you know, not only my work and my close colleagues work, but really the work of many teams and individuals within the Government of Canada.

And so, you know, like I mentioned previously, my role is more on understanding the levels of environmental chemicals in the Canadian population. And then there would be, you know, several other teams that are responsible for putting that information in the context of health risk.

But I can tell you, you know, there's tens of thousands of environmental chemicals in the environment. But really, you know, the focus is on maybe five or six thousand or so that are responsible for the vast majority of production volume, which is a way of saying it's the most likely that you'll encounter those five or six thousand chemicals in your lifetime.

Alex: And could you name those individually?

[Laughter]

Tyler: Might need a longer podcast.

Alex: Just five or six thousand.

Megan: That's part two. And the ones that we're worried about, what are the specific impacts they could have on someone's health?

Tyler: Yeah. So, there's a pretty wide array of impacts. You know, there's effects on the organs. So, like liver effects, kidney effects there's effects on the endocrine system, which is, you know, sort of our hormones that exist in our body, which are responsible for many different biological processes.

But I think really, you know, that's not necessarily what people are interested in when we think about health risks of chemicals, you know, it's not really everyone's interests. "How does this chemical impact this?", you know, biomarker in the liver kind of thing.

It's more the health conditions that we are aware of things like cardiovascular risk for things like heart attacks could be things like the development or the like...

Alex: Cancer risk.

Tyler: Cancer risk. Yeah. So, the development of cancer in the body, things like that.

Megan: I think people probably have heard of some potential environmental contaminants when they hear about certain misunderstandings perhaps in the media, like cell towers or chemtrails. But what are some actual most common contaminants that people are exposed to? The ones that we should actually maybe be worried about or that we've heard about before.

Tyler: Yeah, that's a really good question. So, I can say that chemtrails are not a thing. They're not real.

Alex: I think the line is contrails, right? Because it's just condensation, right? That you're saying.

Tyler: Exactly.

Megan: Thank you for clearing that up.

Tyler: Yeah. But in terms of the environmental chemicals that, you know, people might generally be familiar with.

So, there's a bunch of, you know, metals and elements that might ring a bell. Things like lead is a big one, cadmium, mercury.

But then there's a bunch of sort of more human made chemicals. So, things like plastics, preservatives, pesticides. And I can name specific ones that you might see on a product, for example, as you're walking up and down the aisles of a store.

So, you might be familiar with the BPA free label. So, bisphenol A is a really popular common environmental chemical.

There are others, you know, paraben free on your cosmetics and personal care products. Phthalates free is another one.

So, these are maybe more of the ones that people might be generally familiar with. Of course, there's like this really long list, five or six thousand long...

[Laughter]

Alex: We'll get to that later.

Tyler: Really technical chemical names that may never really come across your radar. But we know that they exist and they're for sure being measured.

Megan: Maybe you could tell us a little bit also about what other chemicals are people exposed to in their home?

Tyler: Yeah. So, within the home, you can think of a lot of different items that you routinely use. So, you know, there are, for example, when you sit down on your couch or sofa, there would be a class of chemicals known as "flame retardants" as part of that. And so those flame retardants serve a very important purpose in the event that there was a fire in your home. They help to suppress that fire from spreading. So...

Megan: So, they're good chemicals?

Tyler: They're the use of them is good. Unfortunately, what that means is because they're in your couch or sofa, you are exposed to them...

Megan: Okay.

Tyler: You know, contact with your skin. They can be released. You can breathe them in. Now, fortunately, for the most part, they're not something that you need to worry about in terms of the health risk. They serve a much better purpose by reducing the spread of fire. But...

Alex: Which could be a real health risk.

Tyler: For sure. Yeah, definitely a serious danger. And yeah, then the easy examples are all of the various chemicals that are in, again, cosmetics, personal care products that you apply, you know, every day. Household cleaners, of course, have chemicals in them too to help with the cleaning process.

Alex: I have a question too. What about old houses? Because I bought a house, and it is from 1962. It's an oldie.

We're really paranoid about lead. And the water, because we're not sure about the age of the pipes that are coming to the house and the infrastructure has been updated and stuff.

So, we routinely won't drink any water until it's been run for a while in the morning. And obviously, you got to be super careful around hot water tanks and not drinking that because that can have lead in it, presumably, too.

But what are some of the those kind of things that... have we made improvements on that with new sort of builds and houses or is lead still a problem? Should I be terrified? I'm terrified. I need your help.

[Laughter]

Tyler: No, that's a really good question because it does bring into sort of that behavioral aspect.

So, yeah, there are, you know, still older homes that have lead in the pipes within the home. It's something that you can get tested, but generally your approach to running the cold water for, you know, a minute or so before you consume it, before you drink it is a good one. It's sort of clears out whatever might be lingering in the pipes. Of course, you can also use water filters and things like that.

But I will say there's a lot of information to reassure you. So, lead levels in the population have come down around 70 or 80 percent over the last 40 years. And since myself and my team have been measuring them in the Canadian population, which started in 2007, they've come down, you know, around 50 percent or so. And so that's really reassuring. It means that the sources of lead in the environment must also be, you know, reducing.

And so, yeah, I would say it's not necessarily the case that you should be terrified of lead, although we do know that lead is a serious health concern.

And lead is one of those chemicals that, unlike many of the other chemicals, there's really no safe threshold. And so, the goal is that you want to reduce the levels of lead as much as reasonably possible.

Alex: You know, it's funny because when we bought our place, it was before we had our son and we were all just, "Yeah, whatever. It's no problem". And then as soon as, of course, we became parents, we're like, "Oh, my God, everything's contaminated. We have to be careful", except maybe mostly that I'm sure from in our case.

Megan: I think it would be good for you to just address, are all chemicals bad?

Tyler: No, it's certainly not the case that all chemicals are bad.

[Laughter]

Megan: Do they all pose a risk to our health?

Tyler: No. So, we have, you know, different approaches for how to think about the health risk of chemicals. And so, you know, I just mentioned, lead is one of those ones where there's no safe threshold. And so, the idea is that any amount in the body could be, you know, contributing...

Megan: Right.

Tyler: To health risk for most other chemicals. We can sort of come up with a good estimation of what the level would be that could be of concern.

And so, for many chemicals, the levels in which, you know, people living in Canada are exposed are much lower than that threshold, that cause for concern. And so, that's really reassuring. Of course, you know, there's new approaches and there's always new information coming out about chemicals.

And so, those sort of thresholds, that level that's cause for concern could change over time. But in the same way, our exposure to the chemicals can change over time. You know, we see that a lot of chemicals are going down in the population.

Alex: And isn't it... we were talking to a food safety expert the other day and she said something that stuck with me, that there's no good or bad bacteria.

Megan: Exactly

Alex: There's just bacteria. And it's kind of the same thing I imagine, right? Chemicals are chemicals. It's kind of what you do with them, how they're used. Right? That defines what their impact is.

Megan: Yeah. Not thinking about it in so like black and white terms.

Alex: Right.

Megan: Nothing is necessarily very good or very bad.

Tyler: Yeah, that's exactly right. And, you know, in the case of the flame retardants that are in your couch, a lot of chemicals are used for a purpose.

People might not be aware, but, you know, you see paraben free on the label or on the container of your cosmetic or personal care product. And paraben is a preservative. And so, there's different types of parabens. If you read the ingredients list on the back, I'm sure you could see things like methylparaben or propylparaben. Those are preservatives. And so, they're there to stabilize the product, to make it shelf stable so that it lasts longer.

And of course, if, you know, if those are removed from a product, which can be a good thing in some cases if they're not necessary, but in other products, you know, medicated products...

Megan: Right

Tyler: They may be necessary. And then, of course, the health risk of the parabens is not as severe as, you know, the product degrading unintentionally kind of thing.

Megan: And so, how do you test for exposure? How do you test and know that something is posing a risk?

Tyler: So, in terms of measuring the levels of chemicals in the Canadian population, which is really, again, what myself and my team do here at Health Canada, it's largely done through the Canadian Health Measures Survey.

And so, the Canadian Health Measures Survey started in 2007. So, it's been going on for over a decade now. And it's a survey that's conducted or led by Statistics Canada in partnership with Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada.

And so generally how the survey works is it will travel around Canada every two years and collect, you know, information and biological samples, as well as some physical measurements from around five to six thousand people living in Canada every two years.

And so, that sample, even though it's only five to six thousand people living in Canada, it's representative of the entire Canadian population. And so, you know, over time it visits every province, it visits, you know, major cities and more rural settings.

And that really allows us to measure the chemicals in people and to understand those levels. And so, you know, of course, as part of the survey, people would volunteer information about themselves and their health conditions, as well as there would be some collection of biological samples like blood and urine.

Megan: I really just wanted you to explain what a biological sample is.

[Laughter]

Megan: So, are they testing when they're collecting that information? Is it testing the levels in a person? Right. And so, we're measuring what's in the environment more broadly or what's at home or everything?

Tyler: Yeah. So that's a really good question and maybe something that I should clarify. So, human biomonitoring is, of course, measuring the chemicals in people. And then there's this sort of whole complementary other work that's being done out of Environment and Climate Change Canada that actually measures those chemicals in the environment.

Megan: Okay.

Alex: Okay.

Tyler: So, we use the term "environmental chemicals" because generally that's where they come from, you know, things like air and soil and products. But those environmental chemicals in the context of my work are in people. So, we're measuring them in people.

Alex: Well, that's an important distinction, too, because, I mean, we often hear about the statistics and things and you're like, "Well, how do they get that data?"And well, that answers the question that people are volunteering things...

Megan: Yeah.

Alex: So that you can understand it better because, you know, as well as knowing what's out there, knowing what is inside of us is kind of the most impactful thing too, right? In terms of our health.

Megan: And so, what do we learn from that? Does everyone have the same amount of chemicals or are they exposed in the same way? So, are some people higher or lower? What does that look like?

Tyler: Yeah. So, through the Canadian Health Measures Survey, we've measured about over 250 environmental chemicals in the population now. I know 250 doesn't sound...

Alex: It's no 5,000.

[Laughter]

Tyler: A lot in terms of five or six thousand, but we are really targeting the highest priority ones, the most important ones to measure.

And again, it's so challenging. Even for 250, it's really difficult to talk broadly about the levels for all of them.

But I can tell you that there's sort of this array of exposures. Some of the chemicals that we measure, you find them in almost nobody. And so, you know, they may still be there, but they're not at a high enough level for us to even be able to detect in your body.

Whereas other ones, you know, because of the sort of laboratory method being so sensitive and being able to pick up even these really trace amounts, we find them in everyone in the Canadian population. And so, it's really that like spectrum and trying to understand, why is it the case that for some of these chemicals, they're in everyone? You know, for example, lead is in virtually everyone living in Canada, but it's a naturally occurring element. So, of course, it's going to be, you know, at some baseline level.

And it's always worth saying when we talk about these really prevalent exposures in the population, it's always worth saying that just because it's there does not mean it's a health risk, does not mean it's a health problem.

Alex: Right.

Megan: Right. And but do you ever test and find a certain region or area has a chemical that is prevalent and that we're worried about? And then, what do we do about it?

Tyler: Yeah. So, the data from the Canadian Health Measure Survey is really meant to be representative of the Canadian population as a whole. Or at least, you know, there's people living in the 10 provinces age 3 to 79 years old.

But it is possible now to sort of like zoom in and focus on specific regions or areas in Canada. And so, we're just starting to really explore that angle. We do know that there are, of course, areas in Canada with higher exposures to certain environmental chemicals. And that's just because, you know, often there's a known source of exposure.

Megan: Cool. So, you're finding out things that make sense. Or have you ever found some results that you're like, "Whoa, we were not expecting that?"

Tyler: Yeah, that's a really good question.

[Laughter]

Tyler: Nothing jumps to mind in terms of individual chemicals.

Megan: Yeah.

Tyler: But, you know, I can say that we've started producing what we refer to as "biomonitoring fact sheets". It's just a way to sort of distill the sort of complicated information about environmental chemicals down to a, you know, in a format that's more accessible and more tangible for most people.

And so, you know, in in pursuing the development and the preparation of those biomonitoring fact sheets, we started to take a really close look at how the chemical levels are changing over time now that we have many years of data available.

And so, I think it was, you know, surprising for us that it was really consistent that a lot of the chemical levels are declining in the population.

Megan: Okay.

Tyler: Which is really good news. There are some, of course...

Megan: Surprising good news.

Tyler: Yeah. There are some, of course, that are pretty stable, not changing. There are a handful that are increasing the population. Of course, we're going to continue to measure those. But it's just the system seems to be working as intended. The regulations come in place. People become aware of certain chemicals and decide, you know, to take action to reduce their own exposures. And so those levels of chemicals and people come down over time.

Megan: I think people listening might be wondering or curious about their own levels now, and I want to reassure people. But also, maybe you can give some practical information to people about, how do you keep your risk low?

Tyler: Yeah, so, it's really challenging to get any insight into your own environmental chemical levels in your body. It's not the case, you know, you go to the doctor, and you can find out your the levels of different blood markers.

Megan: You're not going to get blood work done.

Tyler: Yeah.

Megan: And find that out.

Tyler: You can't go into a clinic and just ask them to measure all the environmental chemicals.

Megan: Yeah, you just don't know.

Tyler: But, you know, it could be reassuring to hear that it is being looked at on a population level.

And there's a lot of information online through government websites, both in Canada, the United States, Europe. You know, there's a lot of information out there on environmental chemicals. There's also a lot of research and reports coming out of universities that really demonstrate where you encounter and are exposed to those chemicals. So, what are the sources? An example that jumps to mind and is more prevalent in the news these days is per and polyfluoroalkylated substances. We call them "PFAS" because that's a horrendous name.

[Laughter]

Alex: Yeah, PFAS is great.

Tyler: So PFAS are in the news a lot. And it's becoming more apparent just how many products they're being used. And so there are ways, you know, for people to go online and look up that information and get a better understanding of where those chemicals might be used in order to make decisions in their own lives. So, for example, the general recommendation when it comes to PFAS is to not use sort of like scratched nonstick cookware.

Alex: Right.

Tyler: That Teflon coating contains PFAS, and it can leach out more into the foods that you're cooking when it's scratched or damaged in any other way. And so, you want to replace that cookware.

Alex: I've got some pretty scratched up.

Megan: I know. I was just looking at Alex and thinking, "Do I have scratched up cookware?"

Alex: Oh, I thought you were going to be judgmental of me. "I was looking at Alex, he for sure has scratched up pans in his kitchen..."

[Laughter]

Alex: And you're right, by the way.

Megan: Well, that too.

Alex: Yeah. No, that's interesting too. Are there other things, you know, I think a lot of people listening are going to think, "Ok, what about me? What about my house?" Because that's what I'm thinking, frankly.

And are there other kind of common things that we're focusing on? I know, you said, we've made big improvements in lead and stuff like that. But are there sort of particular chemicals that we're seeing that are emerging concerns or that are more in the forefront right now? You mentioned PFAS for sure.

Tyler: Yeah. So that's sort of the follow up to what we see is a lot of environmental chemicals coming down in the population. And so those levels decreasing. The flip side of that is, of course, if those chemicals are going away, then what replaces them?

And so, it's maybe not everyone's first thought when you see a BPA free, you know, sticker on a product to think, "Well, what's in it if it's not BPA?" And so, there can be some cases where those chemicals are swapped out for a very similar chemical.

In the case of BPA, there can be things like bisphenol S or bisphenol F, which is just a different letter of the alphabet and a slight change to the chemical structure. But what we see is that, you know, the properties of the chemical can be the same as BPA.

And so, alongside that the sort of health risks of the chemical can be the same and so it's not necessary to worry about it. The levels are still, you know, very low and not of a risk to people. But it's something to consider when you are making those decisions around avoiding exposures to certain chemicals you don't want to mistakenly encounter new and different ones.

Alex: I've see a lot of my friends sort of reverting back to, "Okay I'm only using cast iron or like steel pants from now on".

Megan: Really?

Alex: Yeah well, I mean friends with young kids especially too, we're all kind of a little, you know, but yeah no I think it's interesting too and it underlines the importance of monitoring, right? Because otherwise we don't know.

Megan: Feels like reading labels is part of the way we need to be informed and, you know, think about our own risk levels. Do you have any advice about reading labels when we're shopping?

Tyler: Yeah. So, it's not always intuitive which chemicals should stand out on a label, of course, when I read them, I'm like, "Oh that one that we measured".

Megan: It's intuitive for you Tyler. For me, I'm going to be honest, I'm not reading a lot of the label in detail.

[Laughter]

Alex: I need a very clear "bad" and "good".

Megan: "BPA Free" I like that. But then I don't even really know what it means. If you have any hot tips on shopping and labels.

Tyler: Yeah. So, I mean, it's really challenging because if you look at the back of that personal care product that you're shopping for, you know, whether it's a lotion or toothpaste, or deodorant, there's going to just be a really long list of chemicals.

And so, generally, what I would recommend is it's becoming more and more possible to become familiar with sort of the broad high-level chemical groups. And it's becoming more tangible to slot chemicals into those groups. So, you know, again phthalates, parabens, these all tend to be more on people's radar because they're usually a label on the product. But it's still really challenging to understand what 1, 2, 3 Hexabromocyclododecane might be.

Alex: Yep.

[Laughter]

Tyler: Well, and I think part of it too we talked earlier about, "Are chemicals bad?" Right, And I think it's challenging too because it's one of those things that when it's difficult to understand we want to simplify it in our minds...

Megan: Totally.

Alex: So, we want to say, "Chemical. Oh, that sounds awful".

Megan: Yes

Alex: But it's kind of everything's different. Right. It could be any element. So, it's hard to navigate.

Megan: I have a good example of that. Clean makeup is very trendy now. So, someone who buys makeup and they just blanket it that, "It's clean. You don't need to worry about what's in it" but you gave makeup or personal care products as an example.

It's one where I think also people are trying to get more informed or, at least people that I know, are trying to get more informed about what's in it. And so, when you're wondering about what's in it, is the best resource to start with the company website and learning about what those products are?

Tyler: So, there's, now that you mentioned it, there are some apps and programs out there that will, you know, you can scan a barcode and it will pull up sort of a general rating of the product.

Alex: Okay.

Tyler: Of course, the caution with that is you always have to be mindful of who's putting out that information.

Megan: Yeah, it's the company themselves.

Tyler: Yeah, or someone or some company who's trying to sell you an alternative that they might advertise as being healthier, but maybe more expensive or the same thing. I think, you know, by this point like I mentioned, there's five or six thousands chemicals that account for the vast majority of chemical production, and the ones that you would likely encounter. Those are probably going to be largely the same in all the products that you might encounter.

For example, the different brands or different styles of couches are all the same material at the end of the day. The different brands of water bottles in the store, they're all the same type of plastic, and so, you know, it's probably not necessary to compare for those things, but there are some products where you could look at some contain certain chemicals like paraben free or phthalate free that you might want to gravitate towards if interested in those.

Megan: I love that it's the balance of being informed, but let's not be obsessive about it.

Tyler: Exactly. Yeah.

Alex: It's a good plug for canada.ca too if you want reliable health information about environmental contaminants, come and visit our website.

Megan: Yeah. We can link that specific page on our show notes.

Tyler: I feel like I'm maybe not giving you too much, but there are a couple examples, again, more on the behavioral side of things that you can do. For example, the sort of fun example that I like to give is don't microwave plastics.

Megan: Yes.

Tyler: Generally, you should try and microwave things in glass or ceramic containers. I like to joke and say that when a plastic container says, "microwave safe", it means the container, not you.

Megan: Oh my God.

Tyler: That's of course a joke. It doesn't mean that you're at some huge health risk just because you microwaved your pasta for lunch or dinner.

But yeah, we know that exposing those plastics to higher temperatures like in the microwave causes more of them to sort of leech into the food and then of course you eat it. But I mean, at the end of the day, it's rest assured these chemicals may be in some cases contributing to the development of health conditions, but really there's so many different things in our lives that can cause various health conditions.

And so, it's all about managing the risks and the benefits, and that's true for things totally outside my expertise. Things like, "I should probably eat a little bit better of a diet" and "I should probably exercise a little more". Well, I view chemicals as sort of an extension to that, when possible, try and take actions to reduce your exposures to chemicals. You know, not microwaving plastic containers.

Megan: That is great advice Tyler.

Alex: Absolutely.

Megan: Very balanced and practical. Thank you. Before we close, I want to know from you, what are you the most excited about in your work to work on in the future? What are you looking forward to?

Tyler: So, recently, within our program, we've been putting so much more effort into communicating the results of the information. Of course, we've always been doing that, but it's primarily been to sort of the other teams, the other groups that are working on environmental chemicals. Those groups that are responsible for things like evaluating the health risk, and putting in place any regulations that are intended to reduce exposures.

But of course, we know that people are interested in environmental chemicals, and so we're putting more effort into communicating the information and the results to more diverse audiences, including the general public. I had already mentioned the development of those biomonitoring fact sheets.

We also have what we refer to as the "Canadian Biomonitoring Dashboard". So, it's a web application where you can go on and you can search up whichever chemical is top of your mind, and if we've measured it, you'll be presented with sort of the levels in the Canadian population and you can go through and view if there are differences among the different age groups. So, are children and adolescents exposed at higher levels than adults? Or are there changes in the levels in the Canadian population over time?

Alex: As a parent of a three-year-old, I'm for sure going to be doing that after this.

[Laughter]

Alex: No, it's a great resource. That's interesting

Megan: Yeah. Cool. It's good to know that there's a lot more information out there if people want to know a lot more, right?

Tyler: Definitely.

Megan: Excellent. Tyler this has been a great conversation. We're going to go check our pans when we get home...

Alex: Run the water for a few minutes before I drink it and all the other things.

Megan: Thank you so much for joining us today.

Tyler: Thanks for having me.

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Megan: Thanks for tuning in to Healthy Canadians. If you're watching on YouTube, click the like button and subscribe to stay up to date on all future episodes. Find us wherever you get your podcast and leave us a review if you like what you heard. For more information on health topics that matter to you visit canada.ca/health

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Learn more

• About the Canadian Biomonitoring Dashboard
• Risk assessment of chemical substances
• Environmental Contaminants
• Exposure and health effects of chemicals
• Human Biomonitoring of Environmental Chemicals
• Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS)
• MIREC - A research study on early life exposure to environmental chemicals
• Northern Contaminants Program

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