Canadian Environmental Protection Act
(CEPA) Priority Substances
CEN is working with Environment Canada's National Office
of Pollution Prevention to secure public participation in
consultations on the risk management of substances in the
Canadian environment that have been assessed under the Act
as "toxic" and which have been designated as priority
for control and/or elimination. There are two lists of priority
substances: Priority
Substances List One, which contains 44 substances and
Priority
Substances List Two, which contains 25 substances.
Under the Canadian
Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA
1999), the Ministers of Environment and
Health have the authority to declare substances
"toxic" if they pose a significant
risk to the health of Canadians or to the
environment. The Act provides the federal
government with tools to protect the environment
and human health, establishes strict timelines
for managing toxic substances and requires
the virtual elimination of releases to the
environment from toxic substances which
are bioaccumulative, persistent and result
primarily from human activity.
For substances in Priority Lists One and
Two that are found "toxic" under
CEPA 1999 and are added to the List
of Toxic Substances in Schedule 1 of
the Act, Environment Canada and Health Canada
must propose an instrument to establish
preventive or control actions for managing
the substance, thereby reducing or eliminating
risks to human health and the environment
posed by its use and/or release.
Background
Domestic Substances List
CEPA Priority Substances are listed on the Domestic Substances
List (DSL) which includes substances that were, between
January 1, 1984, and December 31, 1986, in Canadian commerce,
used for manufacturing purposes, or manufactured in or imported
into Canada in a quantity of 100 kg or more in any
calendar year. The purpose of the List was to define what
was 'New to Canada' and it has been amended from time to
time following assessment under the New Substances Notification
Regulations and currently contains approximately 23,000
substances. Types of substances on the DSL include simple
organic chemicals, pigments, organometallic compounds, surfactants,
polymers, metal elements, metal salts and other inorganic
substances, products of biotechnology as well as substances
that are of "Unknown or Variable Composition, complex
reaction products, or Biological materials" (referred
to as UVCBs).
ENGO
Comments on Environment Canada's "Guidance for Categorization
of Organic and Inorganic Substances on Canada's Domestic
Substances List: Determining Persistence, Bioaccumulation
Potential and Inherent Toxicity to Non-Human Organisms"
(pdf format)
ENGO
Position Paper on Health Canada’s draft proposal for
priority setting related to Health Canada’s mandate
to categorize substances on the Domestic Substances List
(DSL) for greatest potential for human exposure (GPE)
PSL1
The
first Priority Substances List (PSL1) was published
in 1989 and included 44 substances or groups of substances.
Environmental assessments and human health assessments were
completed under the Priority Substances Assessment Program
by early 1994. Assessment Reports for each of these PSL1
substances were completed and released following a critical
review of relevant identified data.
The Strategic Options Process was launched
in December 1994 and applied to the first
PSL substances. SOP developed goals, targets
and management options for substances found
to be toxic under CEPA, 1988. Sector or
substance related "issue tables"
were created to develop recommendations
on the most effective and efficient options
for managing the releases of toxic substances.
Chaired by Environment Canada, the issue
tables were multi-stakeholder consultative
groups with representatives from industry,
non-governmental organizations, and the
federal and provincial governments. Each
issue table produced a Strategic Options
Report which provided a set of recommendations
to the Ministers of Environment and Health
for managing the toxic substances.
PSL2
The
second Priority Substances List of the Canadian Environmental
Protection Act was published in December, 1995. This list
identifies substances that will be given priority for assessment
to determine whether they are "toxic" under Section
64 of the Act. A substance is defined as "toxic"
if it enters or may enter the environment in amounts or
under conditions that pose or may pose a risk to human health,
the environment or its biological diversity, or to the environment
that supports life. The list, recommended by a Ministers'
Expert Advisory Panel drawn from major stakeholder groups,
contains 25 substances, including single chemicals as well
as mixtures and effluents.
The overall objective of the Toxics Management
Process is similar to that of the Strategic
Options Process. The TMP was developed to
replace the Strategic Options Process as
it was recognized that changes had to be
made if the requirements for managing toxics
set out in CEPA 1999 were to be met.
Administered by Environment Canada in conjunction
with Health Canada, the Toxics Management
Process is the current approach taken to
develop management tools including preventive
or control instruments for substances that
are added to the List of Toxic Substance
under CEPA 1999. Using this process, Environment
Canada and Health Canada develop risk management
actions in a way that ensures stakeholder
consultations are effective and the timelines
set out in the new Act for managing toxic
substances are met. Central to the Toxics
Management Process (TMP) is the development
of a risk management strategy.
Risk managers' main responsibilities include:
developing a risk management objective;
selecting and developing an instrument or
management tool to address the risk posed
by the use or release of the substance from
that sector; and undertaking stakeholder
consultations on the proposed objective
and management tools or instruments.
Risk Management of CEPA Toxic Substances
Following the evaluation of a PSL substance,
and a conclusion of toxicity, the Ministers
of the Environment and Health can propose
that the substance be added to the List
of Toxic Substances. The federal government
has then two years to develop measures to
prevent or control the release of the substance
into the environment, and a further 18 months
to finalize these measures.
These preventative or control measures
include regulations, environmental objectives,
environmental guidelines, environmental
release guidelines, codes of practice, pollution
prevention plans, environmental emergency
plans, or agreements respecting environmental
data and research. These measures can be
implemented at any stage of a substance
life cycle; from the research and development
stage through manufacture, use, storage,
transport and ultimate disposal.
Together with CEPA, the management of toxic
substances is guided by the Toxic
Substances Management Policy which manages
substances according to one of two objectives:
either virtual elimination of releases to
the environment, or life cycle management
to minimize release into the environment.
Virtual elimination is reserved for those
substances that are bioaccumulative, persistent,
and resulting predominantly from human activity.
An Example—Risk Management of Ethylene
Oxide
The notice proposing to recommend that
ethylene oxide be added to the List of Toxic
Substances was published on April 13, 2002.
The Departments of the Environment and Health
have until April 13, 2004 to develop measures
to prevent or control the release of ethylene
oxide into the environment. Environment
Canada has divided the risk management of
ethylene oxide into two priority sectors:
the sterilization sector, and the chemical
industry sector. This example focuses on
the sterilization sector.
A risk management strategy has been prepared
to outline the objectives, instruments and
approaches proposed to reduce the risk to
human health associated with ethylene oxide.
Results of the Environmental Assessment
process state that ethylene oxide is neither
persistent nor bioaccumulative. Therefore,
it is considered a Track 2 substance under
the Toxic Substances Management Policy and
is determined to require life cycle management.
The Environment Canada Risk Management
process aims to be open and transparent
and encourages all interested parties to
participate in the consultations that will
lead to the development of a risk management
instrument. The consultations will focus
on the proposed risk management objectives
and the most promising management instrument(s)
for the sterilization sector. At these consultations,
all opinions, comments, and questions are
welcomed.
After the consultation, the selected risk
management instrument(s) will be developed
and published in the Canada Gazette, Part
I. Stakeholders will have 60 days following
this publication to comment. All comments
will be taken into consideration and the
final instrument(s) will be published again
in the Canada Gazette, Part I or II depending
on the instrument(s).
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