Chemicals Management ForumSan Antonio, Texas May 15-16, 2012

Comparing Chemicals Information across National Inventories

SMOC Chemical Inventory Team

Commission for Environmental Cooperation

Background

• Completion of Mexican inventory allows opportunity to compare inventories of the three countries

• Interest in comparing available data on subsets of chemicals on all three inventories

• Supports SMOC objective of identifying & tracking chemicals in commerce in North America

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Objectives

• To conduct a pilot project to compile and analyze data on chemicals in commerce in Canada, Mexico, and the U.S.

• Comparing and sharing available information about chemicals across the three countries will allow for more informed risk management decisions and increased transparency.

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Approach

• Compare the Canada DSL and U.S. TSCA Inventory• Compare the overlap chemicals (those on Canada

and U.S. lists) with the interim Mexico Inventory• Select a subset of chemicals that are on all three

inventories and that are existing chemicals of interest in each country for the data analysis

• Select a set of key pieces of information for the data gathering

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Results of Three-Inventories Comparison

• In order to be able to share/publish the results of the pilot project, the comparison began with the data publically available for the Canada and U.S. inventories, then included the interim Mexico Inventory• Canada DSL: 24,578 published substances (July 2011)• U.S. TSCA Inventory: 66,891 published substances (July 2011)• interim Mexico Inventory: 4662 substances (November 2011)

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Results of Three-Inventories Comparison

• 18,885 substances are on the Canada DSL and the U.S. TSCA Inventory • 5,693 of the Canada DSL substances are not on the US TSCA Inventory• 48,006 of the U.S. TSCA Inventory substances are not on the Canada

DSL• 2,584 substances are on all three countries’ lists (Canada DSL

and the U.S. TSCA Inventory and the interim Mexico Inventory)

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Results of Priority Chemical Selection

• In narrowing down the overlap list of 2584 substances to a smaller subset for the data analysis, the project focused on Canada and US existing chemicals of interest• Canada provided a list of substances that will be the focus of their

assessments in the next five years• U.S. provided a list of newly published Work Plan chemicals• For the early pilot project, larger groupings of substances on the US

Work Plan were also not considered in the comparison• This yielded an initial set of three chemicals from the overlap

list of 2584 • A less restrictive approach will be applied to identify further

chemicals to expand the list of substances for pilot comparison

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Preliminary Comparison - Pilot

• Information on 3 substances was compared (preliminary results)– Benzene, 1,1'-methylenebis[4-isocyanato-] (CAS No. 101-68-8) MDI/MDA – Benzene, 1,1'-methylenebis[isocyanato-] (CAS No. 26447-40-5) MDI/MDA – 1,2-Benzenedicarboxylic acid, 1,2-diisodecyl ester (CAS No. 26761-40-0) Phthalate

• Initial consideration was given to: production volume and key information about hazard, use, and exposure• for the pilot project, the decision was made to gather and analyze a

minimal set of information that is likely to vary the greatest between countries

• e.g., production volume, import volume, release information, uses

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Preliminary Comparison - PilotBenzene, 1,1'-methylenebis[4-isocyanato-] MDI/MDA (CAS No. 101-68-8)

• Production Volume (Manufacture + Import)• Canada (2008) 7 million kg• US (2006) 45 million to < 226.8 million kg

• (100 million - < 500 million pounds)

• Mexico (2009 – import only) 1.7 million kg• Information on Use

• Canada – 26 NAICS codes, 7 industrial use categories, 11 consumer and commercial product categories

• US – 2 NAICS codes, 3 industrial use categories, 5 consumer and commercial product categories

• Release Information• Available to both Canada and the US (as part of MDI/MDA group) via

National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) and Toxics Release Inventory (TRI)

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Preliminary Comparison - Pilot

Benzene, 1,1'-methylenebis[isocyanato-] MDI/MDA (CAS No. 26447-40-5) • Production Volume (Manufacture + Import)

• Canada (2008) 2.7 million kg• US (2006 – import only) 624,000 kg

• (1,374,000 pounds)

• Mexico (2009 – import only) 1.6 million kg• Information on Use

• Canada – 19 NAICS codes, 6 industrial use categories, 12 consumer and commercial product categories

• US – 1 NAICS code, 1 industrial use category, 3 consumer and commercial product categories

• Release Information• Not reportable to NPRI or TRI

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Preliminary Comparison - Pilot

1,2-Benzenedicarboxylic acid, 1,2-diisodecyl ester -- Phthalate

(CAS No. 26761-40-0) • Production Volume (Manufacture + Import)

• Canada (1986 (to be surveyed 2013)) > 1,000,000 kg• US (2006) 454,000 - <4,500,000 kg

• (1,000,000 - < 10,000,000 pounds)

• Mexico (2009 – import only) 670 kg (1,500 pounds)• Information on Use

• Canada –NAICS codes not available, 12 industrial use categories, consumer and commercial product categories not available

• US – 2 NAICS codes, 2 industrial use categories, consumer and commercial product categories are confidential

• Release Information• Not reportable to NPRI or TRI

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Preliminary Comparison - Pilot

• Clear differences in information across the 3 countries observed in preliminary comparison– Different levels of manufacture & import– Different uses identified

• How can the similarities/differences inform exposure characterization in each jurisdiction and on a regional level?

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Final Steps: Data Analysis

• Review data compiled • Determine data gaps• Analyze data variability across countries

• Publish a summary of the findings

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Thank you! Merci!

¡Gracias!

Three countries. One environment.

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