Triclosan, mentioned in our July 17th blog, is just one of thousands of existing chemicals and compounds that are being assessed under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA). CEPA has been called the “catch all legislation” because it is meant to address chemicals and compounds that were already in use in Canada that may not have been assessed. These 23,000 existing chemicals and substances are found on the Domestic Substance List.
Substances not on this list would be considered “new” and must be reported prior to importation or manufacture so that they can be assessed to determine if they are toxic, or could become toxic, to the environment or human health.
Chemicals Management Plan
In 2006, the 23,000 substances of the Domestic Substances List were “categorized” according to the potential risk they posed to human health and the environment. This set the priority by which substances were to be assessed under the Chemicals Management Plan (CMP) – beginning with the chemicals that were thought to pose the greatest risk. Under the first phase of the CMP, approximately 200 chemicals were categorized as high risk and were divided into twelve “batches.”
The Government of Canada launched the first phase of the CMP in 2006 and the second phase in 2011.
The third phase may be more difficult
In 2015, the Canadian Government will reach the end of the second phase of the CMP. Phase three will run from 2016 – 2020. This third phase will be potentially the most challenging phase of the assessment process. In fact, Robert Roth, chair of the industry umbrella group said, “…the substances themselves are quite a mixture, so it’s going to be difficult to group these – and they do have to be grouped. You cannot do 1,700 individual assessments.”
For manufacturing companies across Canada, it is important to stay current on the assessment process and understand how chemical handling and reporting may be affected as assessments proceed. If you would like to read more about the CMP and the developments, go to the Chemical Substances website.
If you have questions about permitting, including Toxic Substance Reduction Plans (TSRP), Environmental Activity & Sector Registry (EASR), Environmental Compliance Approvals, Designated Substance Survey, Mould evaluation/survey, etc., please contact me via email at cpare@dragun.com or by phone at 519-979-7300, ext. 114.