Toxic Substances — Focus on Children Developing a Canadian List of Substances of Concern to Children’S Health

Toxic Substances — Focus on Children Developing a Canadian List of Substances of Concern to Children’s Health Toxic Substances — Focus on Children Developing a Canadian List of Substances of Concern to Children’s Health June 2004 Prepared by: Kathleen Cooper Senior Researcher, Canadian Environmental Law Association Prepared for: Canadian Environmental Law Association and Pollution Probe CELA and Pollution Probe 1 Toxic Substances — Focus on Children Developing a Canadian List of Substances of Concern to Children’s Health The Canadian Environmental Law Pollution Probe is a non-profit charitable Association (CELA) is a non-profit, public organization that works in partnership with interest organization established in 1970 to all sectors of society to protect health by use existing laws to protect the environment promoting clean air and clean water. and to advocate environmental law reforms. Pollution Probe was established in 1969 at It is also a free legal advisory clinic for the the University of Toronto. Early issues tackled public, and will act at hearings and in courts by Pollution Probe included urging the on behalf of citizens or citizens’ groups who Canadian government to ban DDT for almost are otherwise unable to afford legal all uses, and campaigning for the clean-up of assistance. Funded by Legal Aid Ontario, the Don River in Toronto. We encouraged CELA is one of 79 community legal clinics curbside recycling in 140 Ontario located across Ontario, 15 of which offer communities and supported the development services in specialized areas of the law. of the Blue Box programme. CELA’s Objectives: Since the 1990s, Pollution Probe has focused • To provide equitable access to justice to its programmes on issues related to air those otherwise unable to afford pollution, water pollution, climate change representation for their environmental and human health, including a major problems; programme to remove human sources of • To advocate for comprehensive laws, mercury from the environment. Pollution standards and policies that will protect Probe’s scope has recently expanded to new and enhance public health and concerns, including the unique risks that environmental quality in Ontario and environmental contaminants pose to throughout Canada; children, the health risks related to exposures • To increase public participation in within indoor environments, and the environmental decision-making; development of innovative tools for promoting • To work with the public and public responsible environmental behaviour. interest groups to foster long-term sustainable solutions to environmental Pollution Probe offers innovative and concerns and resource use; and, practical solutions to environmental issues • To prevent harm to human and pertaining to air and water pollution. In ecosystem health through application of defining environmental problems and precautionary measures. advocating practical solutions, we draw upon sound science and technology, mobilize In accomplishing all of these objectives, scientists and other experts, and build primary recognition is given to CELA’s partnerships with industry, governments and mandate to assist low-income people and communities. disadvantaged communities. Pollution Probe CELA 625 Church Street, Suite 402 130 Spadina Avenue, Suite 301 Toronto, ON M4Y 2G1 Toronto, ON M5V 2L4 Tel.: 416-926-1907 Tel.: 416-960-2284 Fax: 416-926-1601 Fax: 416-960-9392 Website: www.pollutionprobe.org Website: www.cela.ca 2 CELA and Pollution Probe Toxic Substances — Focus on Children Developing a Canadian List of Substances of Concern to Children’s Health Table of Contents Executive Summary 6 Background 6 Scope of Work 6 Information Sources for Developing a List of Substances of Concern 7 Choosing a Final List 11 Risk Assessment and Children’s Health 12 Main Conclusions 13 Recommendations 16 Acknowledgements 19 Part One — Introduction 20 1.1 Purpose and Background 20 1.2 Project Scope and Organization 21 Part Two — Children’s Health Literature Reviews 23 2.1 Introduction 23 2.1.1 Children’s Environmental Health in Context 26 2.2 Exposure and Vulnerability to Environmental Contaminants 28 2.2.1 A Note About Qualifying Language 28 2.2.2 Greater Exposure 29 2.2.3 Greater Vulnerability 29 2.3 Health Effects of Concern 30 2.4 Substances of Concern 34 2.4.1 Chemical Groups 35 2.4.2 Substances of Concern to Children’s Health — The First List 36 Part Three — Database of Lists 39 3.1 Introduction 39 3.2 Methods 39 3.2.1 The Data Sources — Source Lists 39 3.2.2 Consistency Across Lists (Comparing “Apples to Apples”) 40 3.2.3 Screening out the Pesticides 42 3.2.4 The Health Effect Lists 42 3.2.5 The Canadian Lens — The DSL, nDSL and GPE Lists 43 3.2.6 Querying the Database — Source Lists and Derived Lists 44 3.3 Results 45 3.3.1 Canadian Lists 45 3.3.2 Analysis of Existing Lists 54 3.3.3 Substances of Concern to Children’s Health — Choosing a Final List 57 CELA and Pollution Probe 3 Toxic Substances — Focus on Children Developing a Canadian List of Substances of Concern to Children’s Health Part Four — Risk Assessment and Children’s Health 61 4.1 Introduction 61 4.2 Risk Assessment and Risk Management 62 4.3 The Critique of Risk Assessment 62 4.4 International Convergence in Approaches 65 4.4.1 “Scientific Frontiers” 66 4.4.2 Risk Assessment Guidance 69 4.4.3 Screening, Sorting and Setting Priorities 70 4.4.4 End-of-Pipe and Rarely Integrated Approaches 70 Part Five — Conclusions 72 5.1 The Literature Reviews 72 5.2 The Database of Lists 74 5.3 Risk Assessment 76 5.4 Recommendations 78 References Cited 83 Summary of References for Health Effects Source Lists in Database 87 Appendices Appendix One — Source Lists Gathered for Database A-2 Appendix Two — Database Entity-Relationships Diagram A-20 Appendix Three — Allocations of NA Symbols to Chemical Groups A-21 Appendix Four — Canadian List #1 A-23 Appendix Five — Canadian List #2 A-73 Appendix Six — Tables of Substances from Canadian List #2 Matching on Eight Different Health Effect Combinations A-94 Appendix Seven — Constituent Group Members of Substances on Canadian Lists #1 and #2 A-102 Appendix Eight — List of Acronyms A-112 4 CELA and Pollution Probe Toxic Substances — Focus on Children Developing a Canadian List of Substances of Concern to Children’s Health List of Tables Table One: Selected, Recent Literature Reviews on Issues Relevant to Child Health and Environment — page 24 Table Two: Annual Mortality Rates for Specific Causes of Death for Children in Canada — page 27 Table Three: Health Effects in Children Suspected or Associated with Environmental Contaminants — page 31 Table Four: Literature Scan Results — Substances of Concern to Children — Associated/Suspected and Emerging — page 38 Table Five: Number of Substances on Canadian Lists Associated with the Health Effect Categories — page 46 Table Six: Canadian List #2A — Substances of Concern to Children Associated with Four or More of the Health Effects Considered — page 48 Table Seven: Summary of Queries on Canadian List #2 to Identify Sub-sets of Substances Suspected or Associated with Several Different Health Effect Combinations (tables noting the actual substances and groups of substances are compiled in Appendix Six) — page 52 Table Eight: Comparison of Canadian Lists #1 and #2 — Number of Matches to Substances in Selected Source Lists — page 54 CELA and Pollution Probe 5 Toxic Substances — Focus on Children Developing a Canadian List of Substances of Concern to Children’s Health Executive Summary Background Scope of Work We know that children are often more In the past decade or so, the scientific vulnerable and more exposed to literature has exploded with the results of environmental contaminants; but which investigations into the issue of child health ones? We can choose from a possible list, and environmental contaminants. The in Canada at least, of more than 33,000 greater vulnerability and exposure of substances, and groups of substances, not children to lead, mercury, PCBs, radiation, even including pesticides. environmental tobacco smoke, certain air pollutants, and many pesticides, have This project arose from a desire to make figured prominently in this literature. sense of these many thousands of Throughout roughly the same time, substances and to set some child-focused regulatory agencies and others from priorities. It has been a scoping exercise, around the world have devised various lists drawing upon a wide array of information of substances, mainly for the purposes of sources, to devise a list of substances of regulating, or otherwise evaluating or concern to children. In fact, due to the controlling, environmental emissions. Both limitations of the information sources, it the scientific literature and these many was concluded that the results should lists of chemicals comprise two very large include several lists. The work has streams of information. The research for provided some answers to the question: this report tapped into these two which substances are harmful or suspected information streams to devise short-lists of being harmful to children? The research of substances of concern to children. As a focused on substances and associated scoping exercise for an extremely large health effects. The diverse circumstances topic, the research also resulted in of exposure to these substances was not a numerous recommendations. major focus of this work, and it became clear that data on exposure were very limited. The regulation of contaminants applies the tools of Risk Assessment. Using these With a short list, or short lists, it is tools, the results of scientific inquiry are reasonable and necessary to ask how, evaluated in order to set environmental where, and under what circumstances, are standards for allowable or recommended children exposed? Understanding the levels of contaminants in air, water, soil, conditions of exposure to the substances in food, consumer products, waste, etc.

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