ARET Substance List

Following is the ARET list of substances for action. These substances were selected from a list of chemicals detected in the Canadian environment. There is evidence that these substances 1) may have the potential to have harmful effects on human, animal, or plant life; 2) may tend to degrade very slowly in the environment; and/or 3) may tend to accumulate in living organisms.

This listing was meant to guide priorities and is not meant to imply that actual harm is currently being caused by these substances. The ARET substances have been rank-ordered based on their intrinsic properties. Decisions concerning priority for action were made by the managers of participating facilities.

The substances have been categorized by chemical grouping and are accompanied by Chemical Abstracts Service Registry Number (CASRN) for ease of use with WHMIS (Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System) and NPRI (National Pollutant Release Inventory) data management systems.

List A-1

(meet or exceed criteria for toxicity, bioaccumulation, and persistence).
ARET's vision for substances on this list is the virtual elimination of emissions into the environment from human activities. The short-term goal was for a 90 percent reduction in emissions by 2000.

List A-2

(consensus could not be reached on whether these substances meet all criteria) ARET's goal for substances on this list is for the reduction of emissions to levels that are insufficient to cause harm. The short-term goal is for "best effort" reduction in emissions.

*The toxicity criterion was met for possible carcinogenicity by accepting IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) classification of "possible human carcinogen."
**The selection process was unable to take into account specific metal compounds, and therefore scores for metals were based on a composite score for several metal species. For cadmium, actions may be tailored to such compounds as CdCO₃, Cd(OH)₂, CdCl₂, CdO, and CdSO₄. The concept of virtual elimination of discharges for metals is under discussion and was not resolved by ARET.

List B

For the List B substances, the vision is reduction of emissions to levels that are insufficient to cause harm. The short-term goal is a 50 percent reduction by 2000.

List B-1

(meet or exceed criteria for toxicity and bioaccumulation)

*Degrades to lead, which is persistent (see List B-2).

List B-2

(meet or exceed persistence and toxicity criteria)

*CASRN not applicable. The selection process was unable to take into account specific metal compounds, and therefore scores for metals were based on a composite score for several metal species.
**See also tetraethyl lead on List B-1
***See also methyl mercury on List A-1

List B-3

(meet or exceed toxicity criterion)