A report from Environmental Defense on Wednesday said Canada needs more transparency and better enforcement to protect Canadians from unlimited exposure to toxic chemicals like lead and cadmium.

The organization reported tests conducted on dozens of products purchased from popular Canadian dollar stores, where one in four tested products were positive for substances regulated under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. Many results were within allowable limits, but the report states that these limits are not strong enough.

A set of headphones was found to contain double the legal limit of lead and five times the legal limit of cadmium. The solder inside the headphones contained 170 times what is considered safe on the external parts of regular headphones. Cassie Parker, Toxic Director at Environmental Defense, said the internal lead can still expose users to danger if the products break down or corrode.

The toxic harm caused by lead poisoning for more than 50 years has been documented to cause significant delays in cognition and growth in young children, risks of high blood pressure, and kidney damage in adults. It has been banned from use in gasoline, food cans, and paints. Cadmium, often found in batteries and paint, is also known as a carcinogenic substance.

Calls are currently growing to ban toxic chemicals found in cosmetics across Canada and the United States.

Other products raising environmental protection concerns were food cans lined with Bisphenol A, known as BPA, where this chemical, which helps make plastic sturdier, was added to the toxic substances list in Canada in 2010 after studies linked it to prostate diseases, breast cancer, infertility, and behavioral problems in children.

The Canadian Ministry of Environment report called on companies to label all hazardous ingredients in products, including those hidden inside electronics or used in packaging. It also recommends more regulatory enforcement and product testing so harmful products can be identified before they reach store shelves.

Environmental Defense has presented its report to companies it visited, including Dollar Tree and Dollarama. A statement from Dollar Tree said a similar study in the United States two years ago prompted them to remove 17 chemicals from their products.