Toxics & Radionuclides Team
Interim Chair
John Jackson
Interested in this team?
Contact the chair through our Get Involved form
What we're working on
The toxics and radionuclides issue team is working to ensure that the principles of zero discharge and virtual elimination are embedded in all public policy regarding the Great Lakes ecoregion. Most recently, the team produced comments for the GLEN submission regarding the newest iteration of the U.S. Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Plan.
110 ENVIRONMENTAL, HEALTH AND OTHER ADVOCACY GROUPS NOMINATED RADIONUCLIDES IN 2016 AND AGAIN IN 2022 TO BE NAMED CHEMICALS OF MUTUAL CONCERN (CMCS) UNDER THE GREAT LAKES WATER QUALITY AGREEMENT (GLWQA)
In June 2025, the Annex 3 co-leads from the Canada Water Agency and the United States Environmental Protection Agency recommended to the Great Lakes Executive Committee (GLEC) that they drop radionuclides from further screening and consideration as CMCs. Their approach and evaluation reflect a failure to use the GLWQA as their guide.
On September 5, 2025, 126 groups urged GLEC to send radionuclides for “detailed screening and Binational Summary Report.
"The following reports and summary commentary were submitted to support our critique of the Governments" report.
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND PAPERS REFERRED TO IN SUMMARY COMMENTARY
Radionuclides
In 2016, 110 groups nominated radionuclides as Chemicals of Mutual Concern under the GLWQA. We revised that application in 2022 to reflect the "Government Screening Criteria" that the governments had just developed. The "renomination" document linked in below is the document we then submitted to the governments. Now 9 years after the process started, the Canadian governments are chose to making a decision on this matter.
THE CASE FOR A PRECAUTIONARY APPROACH TO TOXIC SUBSTANCES IN THE GREAT LAKES REGION
The presence and accumulation of persistent toxic substances in water bodies threatens all life in the Great Lakes ecoregion. Persistent toxic substances, including radionuclides, need to be eliminated from the Great Lakes ecoregion. The principles of zero discharge and virtual elimination form the basis of a precautionary approach to eliminating new discharges and legacy accumulations of persistent toxic substances. Enacting these precautionary strategies will require embedding them in public policy changes regarding the Great Lakes ecoregion.