Canada recommends no regulatory action for 34 chemicals

The Canadian government has posted draft screening assessments for a batch of 34 chemical compounds, inclusive of lithium- and barium-containing substances. The government recommends that they pose a "low chance of damage to the environment".

The draft assessments under the Canadian Environment Safety Act (CEPA) endorse that the 34 substances do now not meet health or environmental hazard criteria essential for further regulatory movement. Consistent with the outcomes of a CEPA survey, most of the substances do not have direct consumer uses. However, some can be used to make food packaging materials while others are present in products available to customers along with cosmetics, sealants, and disinfectants.

In the draft screening assessment, ecological risks were characterised using the Ecological Risk Classification for Inorganic Substances (ERC-I). Based on the ERC-I analysis, the 34 substances in the assessment are considered "unlikely to cause ecological harm". As part of the screening, human biomonitoring data or "rapid screening" was analyzed to evaluate the potential for direct exposure from products as well as indirect exposure through the environment.

The government proposes that the substances do not meet any of the criteria in CEPA's section 64, which defines a substance as toxic if it enters the environment in a way that may cause harm based on the evidence presented in the draft screening assessment.

The 34 substances include lanthanum oxide, bismuth-containing substances, lithium, lithium chloride and lithium fluoride, as well as various other lithium salts.