Federal Contaminated Site Risk Assessment in Canada: Interim Guidance on Human Health Risk Assessment for Short-Term Exposure to Carcinogens at Contaminated Sites

2013
ISBN: 978-1-100-21839-7
Cat.: H144-11/2013E-PDF

This guidance document entitled Federal Contaminated Site Risk Assessment in Canada: Interim Guidance on Human Health Risk Assessment for Short-Term Exposure to Carcinogens at Contaminated Sites was prepared to provide guidance to custodians of federal contaminated sites.

In keeping with Health Canada's practice of using Human Health Risk Assessment principles to develop guidance documents and facilitate risk-based decisions, this document provides federal custodian departments with added guidance on amortization of short-term exposure to carcinogens at their contaminated sites.

Exposure amortization is the scientific process used to determine the average dose of a chemical over a given exposure period (typically per day) by considering the overall duration and patterns of exposure for a particular contaminated site. Exposure amortization may have a significant impact on potential human health risks and site remediation costs.

This document supplements previous guidance presented in the Health Canada Federal Contaminated Sites Risk Assessment in Canada: Part V- Guidance on Human Health Detailed Quantitative Risk Assessment for Chemicals (DQRAChem).