Christina VarvisOne of the most “transformative moments” in David Boyd’s life was the week he found out his wife was pregnant.
In 2005, Boyd and his wife, Margot Venton, realized they were going to be parents.
Boyd, an environmental lawyer and author, had published several books which examined the conservation of biological diversity and protection of wilderness by that time. But in the same week he was made aware of Venton’s pregnancy, he read a research report which investigated blood samples from maternal cords of newborn infants. What he read next became the basis for his next book, Cleaner, Greener, Healthier: A Prescription for Stronger Canadian Environmental Laws and Policies.
The report found that hundreds of topical industrial chemicals, such as pesticides, heavy metals, flame retardants and plasticizers were found in the blood sample — a “real witch’s brew of everything in society,” the new father thought.
“That was a real sobering discovery,” Boyd said. “It’s been a 10 year voyage of discovery, and since then, I’ve learned a lot of things that horrify me, and some things that make me hopeful.”
Boyd’s focus shifted towards looking at the connection between environmental degradation and human health.
It’s also the topic of his lecture, “Should we have the legal right to a healthy environment?” hosted by the University of Alberta’s Centre for Constitutional Studies at the Faculty of Law and the Parkland Institute on Wednesday, Sept. 15.
Q: What is the main idea of Cleaner, Greener, Healthier?
A: This book is actually how the weakness of Canadian environmental law is contributing to a tsunami of adverse health affects in this country. This comes as a real shock to most Canadians. All of the expert evidence suggests there are tens of thousands of premature deaths in Canada because of exposure to environmental hazards. Millions of cases of preventable deaths and billions of dollars of heath care money is being wasted on preventable adverse affects.
This book lays out the evidence of what are those environmental affects on human health, how much is this costing us as a country, how unfairly are those impacts distributed and why are our laws so far behind other western industrialized countries.
The book concludes with a blueprint for what future governments who are actually interested in protecting human health and the environment can do to move us from a laggard internationally to a world leader.
Q: Realistically, when do you think these changes you suggest could be implemented?
A: The book has a short and long term blueprint. The short term blueprint can be implemented right away from governments such as the new Alberta government under Rachel Notley. There’s a lot of things Canada can do in short order to put together what I describe as a National Environmental Health Action Plan, which every other industrialized western country has, but Canada does not. This would set up a research budget, a national monitoring system, which would immediately take steps to strengthen these Canadian environmental laws and policies which are so far behind that of countries such as the United States, Australia and the European Union.
We can make progress that’s rapid and makes economic benefits that dwarfs the costs. Often people say, “what about the cost of environmental laws?” If you consider the health benefits of those environmental laws, than those health benefits are far larger than the economic costs of stronger regulations.
Q: One thing you want people reading the book or going to the lecture to walk away with?
A: The message that Canada has fallen behind other countries in terms of protecting our health and environmental hazards, but we have the tools, knowledge and capability to catch up and be a world leader in this field.
The Legal Right to a Healthy Environment will take place in the Telus Centre (room 150) at 7:00 p.m.
Entrance is free and open to the public.
