Open Access Article

Title: Challenges and opportunities in the risk assessment of existing substances in Canada: lessons learned from the international community

Authors: Tara S. Barton-Maclaren; Margit Westphal; Elaha Sarwar; Donald Mattison; Weihsueh A. Chiu; David Dix; Robert Kavlock; Daniel Krewski

Addresses: Existing Substances Risk Assessment Bureau, Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch, Health Canada, 269 Laurier Avenue West, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0K9, Canada ' McLaughlin Centre for Population Health Risk Assessment, University of Ottawa, Suite 123, 850 Peter Morand Crescent, Ottawa, ON, K1G 3Z7, Canada ' Health Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada ' McLaughlin Centre for Population Health Risk Assessment, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Risk Sciences International, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada ' Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, USA ' Office of Science Coordination and Policy, Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington DC 20460, USA ' US EPAs Office of Research Development (ORD), US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington DC, USA ' McLaughlin Centre for Population Health Risk Assessment, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Risk Sciences International, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Abstract: The evaluation and regulation of chemical substances have undergone a major overhaul in Canada, the USA and the European Union (EU) over the last decade. To facilitate increasing concerns over chemical safety, changes in regulations and strategic plans were introduced. Specifically, the Canadian parliament adopted a new amendment to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) in 1999, the US National Academy of Sciences published the 2007 NRC report TT21C, the US EPA developed the Strategic Plan in 2009, and the EU introduced new legislation in 2007 called Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH substances). A 2013 workshop held in Ottawa (Risk Sciences International) focused on regulatory issues and challenges faced by these nations. This review summarises many of the discussions held during the workshop and specifically, five challenges that Canada has encountered when assessing chemicals with limited data on Canada's Domestic Substances List (DSL).

Keywords: Canada; Domestic Substances List; DSL; risk science; Chemicals Management Plan; CMP; chemical risk assessment; safe chemicals; chemical safety assessment; regulatory toxicology.

DOI: 10.1504/IJRAM.2017.082569

International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management, 2017 Vol.20 No.1/2/3, pp.261 - 283

Received: 21 Jan 2016
Accepted: 05 Feb 2016
Published online: 01 Mar 2017 *

 

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