BUILDING A GREEN ONTARIO THROUGH TOXICS REDUCTION

Members of the Toxics Reduction Scientific Expert Panel

Dr. Miriam Diamond - Co-Chair
Dr. Diamond is a professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Toronto with cross appointments to the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry and the Department of Public Health Sciences. She is also the research director of the Centre for Environment.   Dr. Diamond was named 2007 Canadian Environmental Scientist of the Year by Canadian Geographic Magazine. She has authored more than 100 publications and is a member of the Science Advisory Board of the International Joint Commission. Dr. Diamond's research focuses on chemical contaminants, tracking their concentrations and behaviour from emission through to environmental transport and finally exposure and potential health effects in humans.

Professor Lynda Collins - Co-Chair
Professor Collins is a Professor in the Environmental Law Program at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law, Common Law Section. She has expertise in environmental legislation and litigation involving the environmental and health damages of toxic substances.  Professor Collins has published material on a variety of subjects including freedom of information in environmental advocacy, the precautionary principle in toxics substances legislation, and environmental human rights.

Louise Aubin
Ms. Aubin is an Environmental Health Manager with Peel Public Health.  She manages the Environmental Health Research and Policy and West Nile Virus teams for Peel Public Health.  Ms. Aubin is chair of the Environmental Health Working Group of the Ontario Public Health Association, which provides a forum for those actively involved in environment and health issues throughout Ontario.

Dr. Ken Geiser
Dr. Geiser is Professor of Work Environment and Director of the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Dr. Geiser is one of the authors of the Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Act and served as Director of the Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Institute, from its founding in 1990 to 2003. His research and writing focus on pollution prevention and cleaner production, toxic chemicals management, international chemicals policy, safer technologies, and green chemistry and, in 2001, he complemented a book, Materials Matter: Towards a Sustainable Materials Policy published by MIT Press. As a recognized expert on environmental and occupational health policy, he has served on various advisory committees for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the United Nations Environment Program.

Dr. Patricia Harper
Dr. Harper, the senior scientist in the Program of Developmental Biology at the Hospital for Sick Children, has a doctorate in medical biophysics from the University of Toronto. She is Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Toronto. The research focus in Dr. Harper's laboratory is to understand the mechanisms by which dioxins and related environmental contaminants exert their toxic effects. Dr. Harper is studying the specific site at which dioxins are first recognized by the body, a protein known as the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR). Current research is on factors that alter activity of the AHR, and mechanisms of dioxin-induced teratogenesis.

Dr. Paul Helm
Dr. Helm is a scientist in the Ministry of the Environment’s Environmental Monitoring and Reporting Branch. His research focuses on organic chemical contaminant fate and transport, environmental chemistry of legacy and emerging persistent organic pollutants, air and water monitoring, environmental analytical chemistry, Great Lakes and Arctic contaminant issues and mass balance modeling.

Heather Logan
Ms. Logan is the Director of Cancer Control Policy and Information at the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) and the National Cancer Institute of Canada (NCIC).  She is responsible for evaluating scientific evidence, developing health policy and position statements about emerging scientific issues, including disease prevention and health promotion, working with committees that advice the CCS and NCIC Boards of Directors, and overseeing the development of print and online cancer information materials.

Dr. Lynn Marshall
Dr. Marshall is an Assistant Professor, Clinical Sciences Division, at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, Faculties of Medicine, Lakehead and Laurentian Universities. She is also a lecturer in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto, and the Medical Education Liaison for the academically affiliated provincial Environmental Health Clinic at Women’s College Hospital. Dr. Marshall is co-chair of the Environmental Health Committee of the Ontario College of Family Physicians (OCFP) and as the Committee's Representative in the Canadian Partnership for Children's Health and the Environment.

Sarah Rang
Ms. Rang is a partner in Environmental Economics International, a consulting company that specializes in environmental research and policy development. She is a biologist with over twenty years of experience in air and water quality, hazardous waste management and Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers. She has contributed to over 20 reports to determine the sources, trends and transfers of industrial chemicals in Canada and in North America.

Dr. Peter G. Wells
Dr. Wells is a professor of Toxicology in the Faculty of Pharmacy and the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Toronto. His expertise is in toxicology and animal models of disease. Dr. Wells’ research focus is on the elucidation of mechanisms of drug-induced embryonic death, birth defects and postnatal functional deficits. This includes the identification of those mothers and unborn children who are at high risk of embryonic conditions potentially contributing to the subsequent risk for cancer in childhood or later in life.

Dr. Philip Jessop
Dr. Jessop is the Canada Research Chair of Green Chemistry and a Professor in the Departments of Chemistry and Environmental Studies at Queen’s University in Kingston.  He has served as Chair of the Green Chemistry and Engineering subdivision of the American Chemical Society, co-edited a book (Chemical Synthesis using Supercritical Fluids, VCH, 1999) and presented popular chemistry shows to thousands of members of the public.  Dr. Jessop co-chaired the CHEMRAWN and ICCDU Conference on Greenhouse Gases: Mitigation and Utilization at Queen’s University last year. His research focuses on finding uses for waste CO2 and on ways to help industry to decrease its use of solvents, chemical reagents and energy.

Dr. Monica Campbell
Dr. Campbell is the Manager of Toronto Public Health's Environmental Protection Office. She manages a team of researchers, policy experts and health promotion specialists that assess and mitigate risks to human health from diverse environmental hazards. Dr. Campbell has a Ph.D. in Toxicology (Pharmacology) from the University of Toronto, where she is Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences. She has received the Distinguished Service Award from the Ontario Public Health Association. Dr. Campbell is currently a member of the Advisory Board for the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health. With co-authors, Monica has written one book, two book chapters, 30 peer-reviewed articles and 25 major technical reports. She has delivered more than 50 presentations at conferences and workshops on environment and health matters.

Additional panel members may be appointed as the toxics reduction strategy evolves.

Terms of Reference for the Toxics Reduction Scientific Expert Panel

May 23, 2008 Memorandum to Environment Minister John Gerretsen from the Toxics Reduction Expert Panel

July 23, 2008 Memorandum to Environment Minister John Gerretsen from the Toxics Reduction Scientific Expert Panel

December 31, 2008 Memorandum to Environment Minister John Gerretsen from the Toxics Reduction Scientific Expert Panel