OTTAWA - The Honourable Tony Clement, Minister of Health, and the Honourable John Baird, Minister of the Environment, today announced that industry and other stakeholders will have until December 18, 2007, to provide information on how they are safely managing and using 19 chemical substances identified as high priorities for action under the Chemicals Management Plan.

"We are putting industry on notice about these substances," said Minister Clement. "If the information we receive shows that more needs to be done to safely manage these chemicals, we will work with industry and our stakeholders to take strong and immediate action to protect the health of Canadians and the environment."

The 19 substances comprise the third in a series of 12 batches of high-priority substances that were identified following Canada's world-leading categorization of its legacy chemical substances last fall. Government scientists are already analyzing the results received from the first batch of substances, and will do the same with the results from the second batch, once they receive them this fall.

"Protecting and preserving our environment comes hand in hand with protecting the health and safety of Canadians," saidMinister Baird. "Our ambitious Chemicals Management plan is just one more example of our Government taking action to safeguard the health of Canadians and the environment."

The Government will assess the information it receives, along with that gathered from other sources, to decide on the appropriate actions required to protect the health of Canadians and the environment. Failure to provide new science or a demonstration of effective control and use will not prevent the government from taking action to safeguard human health and the environment.

Manufacturers, importers and industrial users of high-priority substances will have to provide Environment Canada and Health Canada with information on batches of 15 to 30 substances every few months. There are 193 substances in total, and the process to address all of them will take about three years.

For more information, please visit www.chemicalsubstances.gc.ca.