4. Existing Risk Management Tools and Actions

• 4.1 Information Gathering Activities
• 4.2 Existing Risk Management Activities

NPRI: The National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) was established in 1992 and legislated under CEPA 1999. The NPRI requires companies to report information on releases and on-site and off-site disposal of pollutants to the Government of Canada on an annual basis. Environment Canada makes the information available to Canadians in an annual public report, and maintains a detailed inventory that can be accessed and searched through an on-line database. Through this system, bisphenol A releases have been reported by industry annually (NPRI 2007).

Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-know Act (EPCRA): Annual releases of bisphenol A must be reported if it is manufactured, imported or otherwise used at a level greater than one percent (US EPA, 2001). Release data are available through the toxic release inventory (TRI) (US EPA, 2006).

The Ontario Ministry of Environment has established a provisional water quality objective ^[14] of 5 µg/L for Bisphenol A. The water quality objectives are used to provide guidance when making water quality management decisions (Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Energy, 1994).

A 2003 European Union Risk Assessment Report prepared in part by UK Environment Agency identified a need to limit the risk of exposure in the environment from thermal paper recycling and the use of bisphenol A as an additive in PVC production. The report noted that the use of bisphenol A in manufacturing of PVC resin was voluntarily phased out of PVC production in all European Council Vinyl Manufacturers (ECVM) member companies by the end of 2001 (European Union Risk Assessment Report, 2003).

^[14] http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/envision/gp/3303e.pdf (PDF; 909KB)