Thank you.
Good morning, everyone. Thank you for allowing me to appear before the committee to share with you my experiences around the DSL categorization process.
As my colleague noted, the process for categorization began back in 1999. The principal objective of section 73 of CEPA was to assist the government in identifying substances that had been in use in Canada for several decades and needed further attention. The government recognized that in the last CEPA review process, the Canadian approach to assessment and management of substances was no longer efficient and required a lot of time to take action on hazardous substances. There was very little toxicity information available on thousands of the chemicals in use. Studies were beginning to show that some substances persist in the environment for a period of time and/or bioaccumulate and build up in the environment. There are also many chemicals that were linked to severe health effects, including cancer, reproductive and developmental disorders, and respiratory problems that even disrupt normal hormonal functions. Bio-monitoring data that we've seen in the last few months and years reinforce the need to focus on these chemicals more stringently.
Children's health has become a focus in terms of exposure around toxic chemicals. We see chemicals being found in the Great Lakes and the Arctic, places where industrial activities would normally not be seen.
Taking actions on substances has been slow over the past two decades and the Canadian government has not been able to produce a report that shows how much progress has been made around strategies to deal with toxins or what has been achieved. Government efforts to assess chemicals have not been keeping pace with the urgency and need to take immediate action on the most troublesome chemicals.
The chemicals that decision-makers and stakeholders were most worried about are the 23,000 chemicals that are listed on the Canadian domestic substances list. These chemicals have been in the market for decades but have been the ones reported between 1984 and 1986. They have a wide range of uses, including industrial applications, research and development, use as intermediates or catalysts for formation of other chemicals, and have been found in large numbers of everyday products and articles.
Under CEPA, substances on the DSL are assessed differently from those chemicals that entered the market after 1986. The categorization process aims at identifying the chemicals on the DSL requiring further government attention. When listed on the DSL, very little information, as I noted, included toxicity data and health effects on most of these chemicals.
The categorization process sets out very specific sets of criteria. Chemicals that are persistent, bioaccumulative, and inherently toxic or those chemicals that pose the greatest exposure to human health and to non-human organisms are the focus of categorization. Based on these very narrow criteria during the seven-year process to review those chemicals, government did not focus on generating new toxicity data to make their decisions on categorization. Despite some of these limitations, the categorization process has identified approximately 4,000 chemicals that require government attention. This is a critical first step. These numbers are very significant.
Because these substances are now known to have specific hazardous properties attached to them and they continue to be in use in Canadian commerce, the challenge for the Canadian government will be in the way it responds to the results of categorization. The initial government plans on the 4,000 will have significant impact on how chemicals are assessed and managed in Canada for decades to come. We would almost say that the categorization process places Canada at a crossroads in this approach.
CEPA lays out some very specific steps to follow categorization. Screening assessments will be required for many of the substances. However, there are many questions related to how these assessments are undertaken and the timeframes in which they are required to be completed.
CEPA also has a number of regulatory tools necessary to effectively ensure that the environment and Canadians are protected, including the need to prohibit and eliminate some of these chemicals.
My colleague, Hugh Benevides, will spend a few minutes outlining our vision for the government on the categorization results.