A review of Health Canada’s progress on human biomonitoring-based risk assessments and the path forward

Abstract

Since the launch of the Chemicals Management Plan (CMP) in 2006, Health Canada has initiated screening-level risk assessments (RAs) of approximately 4300 priority substances under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA). With the availability of nationally representative human biomonitoring (HBM) data, over 300 of these substances were assessed using HBM-based RA approaches. Qualitative and quantitative HBM-based RA approaches for the regulatory risk assessment of the general population of Canada were developed to increase the efficiency of screening the potential health risk of CMP priority substances. To support HBM-based RAs, several biomonitoring equivalents (BE) were derived to interpret HBM data. For some CMP substances, Health Canada conducted cumulative risk assessments of chemical mixtures using HBM data as measures of exposure. In 2023, CEPA was amended to include the assessment of populations who may be disproportionately impacted (vulnerable populations) and the cumulative effects of multiple chemicals. Going forward, Health Canada is exploring modern approaches in HBM-based RAs, including biomarkers of effect and non-traditional biomarkers (e.g., hair, nails) to address CEPA amendments. This manuscript will discuss Health Canada’s progress in HBM-based RAs, and the possible path forward in using HBM data to strengthen human health risk assessments.