Environmental Impact Initiative
Health Canada’s Environmental Impact Initiative (EII) was established within the
Health Products and Food Branch (HPFB) and the Healthy Environment and Consumer Safety
Branch (HECSB) in 2001 as the Department’s response to the Canadian Environmental
Protection Act (CEPA) 1999. CEPA requires that all new substances for use in Canada must
be assessed for both direct and indirect impacts on human health and the environment.
These substances may be found in a range of products regulated by the Food and Drugs
Act (F&DA) . They include:
• pharmaceuticals,
• biologics
• veterinary drugs
• natural health products
• medical devices
• cosmetics
• food additives and novel foods
To develop its policy and strategy for a regulatory regime for the environmental assessment
of these new substances, the Environmental Impact Initiative team works with personnel
in each of the above Directorates.
It also collaborates with these and other colleagues, in Canada and internationally, to
build the scientific evidence base regarding the direct and indirect health impacts of
substances in products regulated under the F&DA, and to identify best practices to
help manage them.
To provide options for appropriate Environmental Assessment Regulations for consideration
by stakeholders, an Options Analysis Paper was developed by the EII team, in collaboration
with a range of internal stakeholders. The Paper has now been released to external stakeholders.
This paper is the Options Analysis Paper: An Environmental Assessment Regime for New Substances
in Products regulated under the Food and Drugs Act.
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