Toronto - A unique Internet service launched today allows Canadians to easily access important information about local polluters. By simply entering a postal code, visitors to the site can find out who is polluting in their community, the type and quantity of pollution being released and the potential health risks.

PollutionWatch (www.pollutionwatch.org) is a free service that enables users to compare polluters in their neighbourhood with others across the country. It merges information from approximately 300 databases to create instant rankings based on pollution loads and health hazards for almost 2000 polluting facilities reporting in Canada.

Visitors can delve deeper into PollutionWatch’s resources to find out where polluters are located on street maps of their own community, and use the service’s take action feature to immediately fax or email a letter of concern straight to the most dangerous polluters.

A visitor would find out with a few clicks that, for Canada as a whole: - the recognized carcinogen with the largest releases to the air is dichloromethane with 2,387,457 kilograms released to local environments in 1999; - the two facilities reporting the largest amounts of total environmental releases (a total of 86,608,347 kilograms) in 1999 are both located in British Columbia - making it the province with the most reported pollution (99,384,155 kilograms).

PollutionWatch is a joint project of the Canadian Environmental Defence Fund, Canadian Environmental Law Association and the Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy.

For more information, to download our link, or to find quotes about PollutionWatch, please visit the website at www.pollutionwatch.org and click on "Media Centre".

A media conference will be held on Tuesday, April 10th, 10:00 a.m., Council Chamber, 2nd Floor, Metro Hall, 55 John Street (King St. W. and John St.), Toronto, Ontario. For media unable to attend, please join us by conference call by dialling 1-888-280-8349.

For more information, contact: Mary McGrath, PollutionWatch Outreach Coordinator (416) 323-9521 (office), (416) 435-6265 (cellular phone)