Item - 2025.HL23.2

The Board of Health:

1. Requested the Acting Medical Officer of Health to continue to collaborate with City divisions, public health agencies, academic institutions, and community researchers as appropriate, on initiatives to better understand environmental exposure risks in Toronto such as:

a. Exploring collaborative research opportunities to update information on the air pollution burden of illness, including cancer.

b. Continuing participation as a knowledge user in the Study of Winter Air Pollution in Toronto (SWAPIT) and other air quality studies to inform local policies and action.

c. Undertaking an assessment of the quality improvement options for optimizing the ChemTRAC program's operations and effectiveness.

2. Requested the Acting Medical Officer of Health to continue contributing to environmental carcinogen risk reduction through provision of public health technical expertise to the City of Toronto or other levels of government on relevant initiatives.

3. Requested the Acting Medical Officer of Health to continue amplifying messages about relevant environmental carcinogens through participation in initiatives of other agencies or City divisions to reduce public health risks of environmental cancers.

The Associate Medical Officer of Health gave a presentation on Environmental and Occupational-Related Cancer Prevention in Toronto: Public Health Actions.

Cancer-causing agents in the environment, or environmental carcinogens, contribute to some of the most common cancers in Ontario. Some carcinogens are in the environment from human activities (for example, pollution from cars or industry) while others are part of the natural environment (for example, radon and solar radiation). The severity and frequency of exposures to environmental cancer-causing agents are potentially modifiable. Some environmental exposures can be outside the control of individuals.

The burden of environmental cancers is felt across the city. As a public health unit, Toronto Public Health (TPH) has a role in environmental cancer prevention and in reducing exposures at the community level. Toronto Public Health contributes to community cancer prevention and exposure reduction by working with other levels of government and partners, and by taking action within local public health's scope and mandate. Toronto Public Health's prevention activities include increasing public awareness of primary cancer prevention, responding to public complaints, participating in research studies, enforcing existing laws, and advocating for laws to prevent exposures to environmental carcinogens.

Occupational cancers are related to workplace exposures. The hierarchy of hazard controls is a framework for actions to help protect worker health and safety in workplaces.  Many provincial laws exist to protect workers from occupational exposures to hazards.   

This report highlights Toronto Public Health's participation in existing strategies to prevent cancer. The report also identifies opportunities to enhance multi-level government efforts to reduce the burden of cancer from environmental and occupational carcinogens in Toronto.