PVC SANDALS
Nothing says summer like an easy plastic slip on. Too bad vinyl sandals have been found to leach hormone disrupting phthalates into sweaty feet. Plus vinyl is one of the most polluting plastics to manufacture.
Score: N
TOMS EARTHWISE
Better than most mainstream picks, since they donate shoes to kids in need for every pair purchased. However, not super-durable and mostly made in China. Not officially fair trade (they’re “not in the business of poverty alleviation,” Toms told the NY Times), though the company says it uses responsible practices. Extra points for their Earthwise Collection, like this shoe in hemp and cork. toms.ca.
$85
Score: NNN
EL NATURALISTA
Love this Spanish brand of styly shoes that comes in everything from sexy heels to funky flats. Veggie-dyed leather and either natural rubber or recycled rubber soles. Tops for durability. Made in unionized Spanish/Moroccan factories. Found in some stores and at elnaturalista.ca.
$229
Score: NNNN
OLIBERTE
Sturdily crafted men’s line of fairly made shoes using free range regionally sourced goat leather and natural crepe rubber. Started by Canadian Founder of development group MBAs Without Borders. Take-back program for shoe recycling. Mostly online. oliberte.com. $85
Score: NNNN
SOLE REBELS
Feel-good sandals and shoes certified by the World Fair Trade Organization. Artisan-made in Ethiopia using hand-loomed organic cotton (from mostly small, traditional farms) and recycled tire soles. Covers health care costs and schooling for workers’ families. Mostly vegan. Available online only. solerebelsfootwear.co.
$60
Score: NNNNN
Greenwash Of The Week
COPPERTONE KIDS PURE & SIMPLE LOTION
So great of Coppertone to come out with a mineral sunscreen with UVA-blocking zinc oxide for the little ones. But there’s nothin’ pure or simple about its other ingredients: endocrine-disruptor octinoxate, bioaccumulative water toxin cyclopentasiloxane, formaldehyde-releasing diazolidinyl urea or propyl paraben – banned from kids’ products in Denmark.
SUNSCREEN SCREAMER
Health Canada’s new rules are LikE a saturday Night live skit
What do you get when you cross an anti-aging ingredient with sunscreen? Surprise! A sunburn. The DC-based product watchdogs at Environmental Working Group have been sounding the alarm around retinyl-palmitate-laced sunscreens’ cancer-boosting potential for several years – and last week they commended Health Canada for finally listening, or at least letting us in on the joke.
HC’s long-awaited draft document will dictate the new parameters under which sunscreens can market themselves.
Top of the agenda: forcing brands to warn consumers that skin-peeling acids like retinol/retinyl palmitate/retinyl acetate (in a full one-quarter of sunscreens) and AHAs (alpha hydroxy acids like glycolic and lactic acid) “may increase your skin’s sensitivity to the sun and particularly the possibility of sunburn.”
On goes the warning: “Please limit sun exposure while using this product and for a week afterwards.”
Come again? Does that mean we’ll actually be buying sunscreen that tells us to avoid sunshine while using it and for a full week afterwards? Is this a Saturday Night Live skit?
I guess we just have to be thankful that there’ll be warnings at all, which is further than American sunscreen reg reforms have gone. But why isn’t HC prohibiting skin peelers from sunscreen products altogether?
In step with new U.S. regs, the terms “sunblock,” “waterproof” and “sweatproof” will be banned here, too, since the words suggest misleading levels of protection. And companies won’t be able to advertise SPF 70 and 100 any more for similar reasons. (Max levels will read “SPF 50+”.)
The main place where the regs fall short is in beefing up our UVA/UVB broad-spectrum protection. As the EWG said in its statement: “Canada proposes to adopt FDA’s relatively weak standard for ultraviolet A filtering, commonly known as ‘broad spectrum’ protection. EWG modeling suggests that half of American sunscreen products are too weak to be sold in Europe.”
Unlike in the U.S., however, Canada will at least allow sunscreens to flaunt the fact that they meet European broad-spectrum standards if they do.
And campers may not like it, but Health Canada is finally outlawing sunscreens with insect repellents like DEET, because it’s simply not safe to apply DEET as often as you need to reapply sunscreen. Truth is, sunscreen ingredients have been clinically shown to spike the amount of neurotoxic DEET your body absorbs.
Environmental Defence toxics manager Maggie MacDonald says the proposed new rules for sunscreen are a big improvement, but they fail “to address concerns regarding oxybenzone, an estrogen-mimicking chemical common to many sunscreen products.”
And manufacturers of sunscreens containing nano-particles are only being asked to monitor safety data on the potential risks to humans and the environment. Europe, on the hand, requires all brands to disclose their nano content up front.
While we wait for word on when our new sunscreen regs take effect, might as well write a thank-you note to Health Canada for stepping up its sun protection regs and let the department know that Canadians deserve to be at least as safe as European sunbathers, even if Cherry Beach isn’t quite the Riviera.
Nature Notes
DON VALLEY’S FLOODED CRYSTAL BALL
Want a peek into Toronto’s future? Look deeply into the flash floods that swamped the Don Valley and the Yonge-Bloor station after last week’s heavy rains. Toronto Environmental Alliance says that’s “but a trickle compared to what will happen by 2040.” That’s when, according to a city staff report on the state of our future, extreme rainfall events are predicted to go from dumping max 66 millimetres in 24 hours to 166 millimetres – so, agree the report and TEA, the city better start prepping for climate change ASAP.
BC SAYS NO TO NORTHERN GATEWAY – FOR NOW
Thought Christie Clark’s surprise re-election as BC’s premier meant the inevitable rubber-stamping of the Northern Gateway Pipeline? Well, the province disappointed a lot of oil execs with its official rejection of the pipeline proposal on environmental grounds May 31. But before you break out the Okanagan bubbly, it’s by no means the end of Enbridge’s hope of transporting Alberta crude to the port in Kitimat. BC Enviro Minister Terry Lake maintains there is a “pathway to yes” if five conditions are met, including beefed-up oil spill response. Considering the current wall of opposition from BC’s First Nations, it’s hard to imagine condition four (First Nations treaty rights respect) being met. Either way, the feds have the final say on whether Northern Gateway sees the light of day.
