Part III:
Guidance on Peer Review of Human Health Risk Assessments for Federal Contaminated Sites in Canada

1. Introduction

A checklist has been formulated to assist in conducting peer reviews of human health risk assessments of federal contaminated sites submitted to Health Canada. It is intended that the peer review will be completed directly on the checklist provided in Appendix B, by responding “yes” or “no” to each question and, where appropriate, adding a short explanation or cross-reference as to where the information may be found in the risk assessment report. As well, the checklist has been designed such that an answer of “no” to any question requires a suitable explanation. If that explanation is not contained within the report, follow-up and resolution by the report author and/or the initiating department may be required before the report is deemed complete and acceptable.

The guidance outlined in Appendix A is intended to supplement the checklist by providing explanations of some of the key checklist questions/items, as well as references for sources of additional information.

In addition to Health Canada’s guidance for conducting a preliminary quantitative risk assessment (PQRA) (Health Canada, 2003a), information on preparing risk assessments may be found in documents produced by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) (1996), the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Energy (MOEE) (1996a), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) (1989).