Pollution Reporter

Important Disclaimer
This app is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or officially associated with the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), the Government of Canada, or any other government entity. The app facilitates composing email drafts to report pollution events, but it does not provide or verify government services. The health harms listed are based on findings from peer-reviewed scholarship and are not medical diagnoses.

About the App
The Pollution Reporter App provides users with information that connects polluters to pollution to health harms in Ontario’s Chemical Valley. It also helps report spills, leaks, flares and other pollution events by generating an email draft addressed to the Spills Action Center at the Ontario Ministry of Environment. The app does not interface directly with any government system; it simply provides a convenient way to compose and send your report using your own email service.

Community and Research
Developed by the Indigenous-led Environmental Data Justice Lab at the Technoscience Research Unit at the University of Toronto, this app is built using community-based research methods. It is designed primarily for Aamjiwnaang First Nation community members and residents of Chemical Valley, as well as anyone interested in environmental issues in the area.

Government Data Sources:

National Pollutant Release Inventory (https://www.canada.ca/en/services/environment/pollution-waste-management/national-pollutant-release-inventory.html)
- The pollution facility data featured in the app is sourced from the NPRI, Canada’s legislated, open, publicly accessible inventory of pollutant releases, disposals, and transfers. Established in 1993, the NPRI collects annual data from over 7,500 facilities across Canada on more than 300 substances.

PubChem (https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/)
- PubChem is an open chemistry database at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This source provides technical information about chemicals and pollutants in the app.

Proposition 65 Cancer and Reproductive Health List (https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65/proposition-65-list)
- This data is publicly accessible information regarding the chemicals listed under California's Proposition 65, also known as the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act. It is open data readily available on the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) website, allowing anyone to access the list of listed chemicals and health harms associated with them.

Non-government Data Sources:

International Agency for Research on Cancer (https://www.iarc.who.int/)
- The International Agency for Research on Cancer is an intergovernmental agency forming part of the World Health Organization of the United Nations. IT uses systematic review methods to identify cancer-causing chemicals. This source provides information about health harms associated with chemicals.

TEDX List (https://endocrinedisruption.org/interactive-tools/tedx-list-of-potential-endocrine-disruptors/search-the-tedx-list)
- The TEDX List of Potential Endocrine Disruptors identifies chemicals that have shown evidence of endocrine disruption in scientific research. TEDX researchers evaluated chemicals by searching the publicly available scientific literature and identifying peer-reviewed research showing effects on endocrine signaling. This source provides information about health harms associated with chemicals.

App Features
• Report Pollution: Quickly generate an email draft to report local pollution incidents in Ontario’s Chemical Valley.
• Educational Content: Learn about polluters, the chemicals they release, and the associated health risks (based on peer-reviewed academic research).
• Data Transparency: Access and explore data sourced from the NPRI, an open government dataset maintained by the ECCC under the Open Government Licence – Canada.