Human Health Risk Assessment

Health Canada is committed to providing expert support services to federal departments on human health risk assessment for federal contaminated sites through the establishment of tools and guidance materials.

Health Canada's current risk assessment activities include, but are not limited to:

• Establishing scientifically defensible risk assessment tools and guidance materials on preliminary quantitative and complex site-specific human health risk assessments for chemical, radiological and biological contamination for federal contaminated sites;
• Providing risk assessment training for government departments; the development of Canadian Soil Quality Guidelines for the Protection of Human Health with the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) and the dissemination of Health Canada's toxicological reference values (TRVs) for use in human health risk assessments; and finally,
• Providing expert third-party peer review of human health risk assessments for federal contaminated sites.

Guidance materials

Health Canada Federal Contaminated Sites Guidance on Human Health Risk Assessment in Canada

The following Health Canada guidance documents are intended for use by government custodial departments responsible for the management and/or remediation of contaminated sites in Canada towards the assessment of human health risks associated with federal contaminated sites.

• Part I: Human Health Preliminary Quantitative Risk Assessment (PQRA)
• Part II: Health Canada Toxicological Reference Values (TRVs)
• Part III: Guidance on Peer Review of Human Health Risk Assessments for Federal Contaminated Sites in Canada
• Part IV: Spreadsheet Tool for Human Health Preliminary Quantitative Risk Assessment (PQRA)
• Part V: Guidance on Complex Human Health Site-Specific Risk Assessment (HHSSRA); (Unavailable at this time)
• Part VI: Guidance on Human Health Risk Assessment for Radiological Contaminants (RADHHRA) (Unavailable at this time)
• Part VII: Guidance on Human Health Risk Assessment for Biological Contaminants (BIOHHRA) (Unavailable at this time)
• Part VIII: Compendium of Canadian Human Exposure Factors for Risk Assessment, 2nd Edition (Unavailable at this time)

(Available by contacting Environmental Health Assessment Services -Contaminated Sites Program at cs-sc@hc-sc.gc.ca.)

Tools

• ExpoFacts
  
  The European Exposure Factors Sourcebook is a collection of statistics and references for environmental exposure analysis and risk assessment.
  
  
• Health Canada
  
  
  • Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality (Supporting Documentation)
    
    
  • Guidelines for Recreational Water Quality
    
    
  • Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) Priority Substances List (PSL)
    
    
• Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME)
  
  
  • Canadian Environmental Quality Guidelines (CEQG)
    
    
• US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
  
  
  • Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)
    
    
  • Risk Assessment Information System (RAIS)
    
    
  • Tools of the Trade (Tools for Human Health Risk Assessment)
    
    
  • US EPA Region 9 Preliminary Remediation Goals (PRGs) Tools for Evaluating and Cleaning-up Contaminated Sites-
    
    
• Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry (ATSDR)
  
  
  • Toxicological Profiles & ToxFAQs
    
    
• International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS)
  
  
  • Chemical Safety Information from Intergovernmental Organizations
    
    
• National Library of Medicine (NLM)
  
  
  • PubMed
    
    
  • TOXNET
    
    
• Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
  
  
  • Screening Information Database for High Production Volume (HPV) Chemicals
    
    
• Oakridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
  

Canadian Soil Quality Guidelines for the Protection of Human Health

In 1991, the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) published a set of Canadian Environmental Quality Criteria for Contaminated Sites. These were numerical limits for contaminants in soil and water intended to maintain, improve, or protect environmental quality and human health at contaminated sites in Canada. These interim criteria have been superseded by the 1999 publication of the Canadian Soil Quality Guidelines for the Protection of Environmental and Human Health.

The following Health Canada documents provide the supporting scientific rationale for the establishment of human health soil quality guidelines.

Published by Health Canada, the following documents are intended for use by government custodial departments responsible for the management and/or remediation of federal contaminated sites in Canada:

• Inorganic Mercury
• Inorganic Arsenic
• Inorganic Lead
• Benzo(a)pyrene
• Chromium
• Inorganic Cadmium
• Tetrachloroethylene

(Available by contacting Environmental Health Assessment Services -Contaminated Sites Program at cs-sc@hc-sc.gc.ca.)