Skip to content|Skip to institutional links

Common menu bar links

Products Banned Under the Hazardous Products Act

Health Canada

Last Verified: 2008-08-28

Act: Hazardous Products Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. H-3
Regulation: Various

To Whom Does This Apply?

Manufacturers, importers, distributors, and retailers.

Eligible Area

All Canadian provinces and territories.

Eligible Activities

The manufacturing, import, sale, or advertising of articles that are banned according to the Hazardous Products Act.

Summary

The purpose of the Hazardous Products Act is to protect the health and safety of consumers by prohibiting or regulating the sale, advertising or import of hazardous or potentially hazardous consumer products, and to ensure the protection of Canadian workers from the adverse effects of hazardous materials through the provision of precautionary labelling and material safety data sheets.

It is the manufacturer's obligation to ensure that their product meets any general safety guidelines set out in industry standards that may exist. It is recommended that manufacturers maintain good records of distribution and appropriate testing which support compliance with these guidelines. In the event there are no specific industry standards that apply directly to the product in question, they are reminded that under general health and safety guidelines, the manufacturer must ensure that the materials used in their products are safe under any foreseeable conditions of use.

The following items and their related condition(s) are banned from import, sale, or advertisement in Canada:

Product	Banned Condition(s)	Item #
Aerosol containers	containing vinyl chloride	23
Asbestos products applied by spraying except those encapsulated with a binder and which are not friable after drying	containing asbestos	40
Asbestos (pure)	consumer products other than those listed elsewhere containing asbestos fibres and in addition those containing fibrous erionite	37
Ashes or embers - simulated	composed of or containing actinolite, anthophyllite, crysotile, amosite, crocidolite, cummingtonite, tremolite or other types of asbestos	28
Audible signal appliances, control units, smoke detectors, heat detectors for use in fire alarm systems in the home	not meeting ULC standard	33
Baby walkers	mounted on wheels or any other device permitting movement of the walker and that have an enclosed area supporting the baby in a sitting or standing position so that their feet touch the floor, thereby enabling the horizontal movement of the walker	12
Balloon blowing kits containing any organic solvent	where the vapours of the solvent can be released during use	21
Bathtub enclosures, shower doors, storm doors, exterior doors for household use that are made of glass or that contain a pane of glass	not constructed of safety glass	17
Bed linen (sheets, pillowcases, blankets, mattress pads, comforters, sleeping bags)	having a flame spread of 7 seconds or less for non-raised fibres; having a flame spread of 7 seconds or less and exhibiting base burn for raised fibres	13
Candles	that relight spontaneously once extinguished	29
Car seats - infant	that do not meet Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 213.1	35
Children's jewellery (jewellery or jewellery components intended primarily for children under 15 years of age)	that contain more than 600 mg/kg total lead and/or 90 mg/kg migratable lead	42
Children's Sleepwear (up to and including size 14X - includes sleepwear designed for use in a hospital, for infants up to 7 kg, polo pyjamas, and sleepers)	having a flame spread of 7 seconds or less	5
Cigarettes	Refer to Regulations for Cigarettes under the Tobacco Act - Health Canada	41
Cutting oils and fluids for use in machining operations	containing more than 50 µg/g of nitrite, when monoethanolamine, diethanolamine or triethanolamine is present	32
Device that resembles a bomb containing a clock and a simulated explosive	all devices of this type	36
Drywall joint cements or compounds or spackling or patching compounds	composed of or containing actinolite, anthophyllite, chrysotile, amosite, crocidolite, cummingtonite, tremolite or other types of asbestos	28
Face protectors for ice hockey and box lacrosse	not meeting the CSA standard	20
Furniture and other articles for children	containing lead in excess of 0.5% in the paint or varnish	2
Face protectors for ice hockey	that do not meet the CSA standard	19
Immersion oils used in microscopy, excluding refractive index oils	containing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB)	26
Jequirity beans (in whole or in part)	the beans and all articles containing them	1
Kite strings	that conduct electricity	11
Kites made from or containing parts made from uninsulated metals or conductive film coating	that exceed maximum linear dimension	27
Lawn darts	with elongated tips	39
Modelling or sculpture material	composed of or containing actinolite, anthophyllite, chrysotile, amosite, crocidolite, cummingtonite, tremolite or other types of asbestos	28
Pencils and artist brushes	with a surface coating material containing more than 600 mg/kg of total lead	18
Sneezing powder	containing various listed substances	31
Spectacle frames	composed or containing cellulose nitrate	6
Structural devices that position feeding bottles	that allow babies to feed themselves while unattended	15
Teethers, soothers, pacifiers	with filling that contains a viable micro-organism	14
Textiles (in general)	having a flame spread of 3.5 seconds or less for non-raised fibres, or having a flame spread of 4 seconds or less and exhibiting base burn for raised fibres, and exhibit ignition or fusion of their base fibres	4
Textiles (wearing apparel treated with a flame retardant)	treated with tris (2, 3 dibromopropyl) phosphate	30
Textiles to be worn on the person	containing asbestos, unless for protection from fire or heat and where the asbestos fibres will not become separated	16
Toys	composed of or containing asbestos that may become separated from the product	28
Toys (flammability hazards)	composed of or containing cellulose nitrate, other than ping pong balls	7
Toys (toxicity hazards)	containing carbon tetrachloride, methyl alcohol, turpentine, benzene, petroleum distillates, boric acid or its salts, or ethyl ether	8
Toys (heavy metals)	with a surface coating material containing lead, antimony, arsenic, cadmium, selenium, barium, or mercury	9
Toys (physical hazards)	emitting noise exceeding 100 decibels containing plant seeds for noise-making and is for use by a child under 3 years of age containing plant seeds as stuffing material	10
Urea formaldehyde foam insulation (UFFI)	used to insulate buildings	34
Yo-yo type balls and similar products	made of soft pliable material and having a stretchable cord that can extend to at least 500 mm in length	3

More information

For more information, visit the Consumer Products Safety page of Health Canada's Web site and the Guide to the Hazardous Products Act .

DISCLAIMER
Information contained in this section is of a general nature only and is not intended to constitute advice for any specific fact situation. For particular questions, the users are invited to contact their lawyer. For additional information, see contact(s) listed below.

Manitoba Contact(s):
See National Contact.

National Contact(s):
Ms. Gail Salminen
Head, Information and Education Unit
Health Canada
123 Slater Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0K9
Telephone: 613-957-1502
Fax: 613-941-4376
Toll-free (information): 1-866-225-0709
TTY Toll-free (hearing impaired): 1-800-267-1245
E-mail: gail_salminen@hc-sc.gc.ca
Web site: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/index_e.html

DISCLAIMER
Information contained in this document is of a general nature only and is not intended to constitute advice for any specific fact situation. Users concerned about the reliability of the information should consult directly with the source, or seek legal counsel.
LINKS POLICY
Some of the hypertext links lead to non-federal government sites which are not subject to the Official Languages Act and the material is available in one language only.