One of the major unresolved policy and scientific issues of our time is the identification and management of the effects of environmental chemicals on human health. The Centre for Global Research and Education on the Environment and Health (CGREEH) has been established to make clear to all the links between environmental chemicals, biological systems, and the health of humans and other lining things. It will do so by communicating and making visible relevant knowledge that is currently invisible. This endeavour will engage all levels of government, education and research institutions, and the public in a collaborative knowledge mobilization program. It will also deliberately encourage Canadian youth to play a leading role in this process. CGREEH is committed to promoting a common understanding of the relation between environment and heath in a way that is useful for all. CGREEH’s core business is co-ordination of a program that reveals what is known (or not) about environment and health concerns and of what is being done (or not) about them. The program is based on cooperation between individuals, academia and government aimed at generating sound information, in appropriate formats, resulting from systematic evaluations of modes and consequences of environmental exposure to chemicals. CGREEH will promote awareness of both knowledge gaps and opportunities for innovation.

The CGREEH “clearinghouse” program will begin with a public engagement strategy to help identify key issues of concern; incorporating public knowledge and experience will be a key element in the knowledge exchange process. The program would then scan for what is known about the concern and analyze and translate the information found. The aim will be to produce accessible, reliable, scientifically sound, and socially robust information on health risks associated with environmental chemicals as well an accurate survey of who is doing (or not doing) what, where and why, in developing relevant innovations in research, surveillance, and policy. This information will then be mobilized in such a way that the right information gets to those who need it, in a format that they can use effectively.