Meeting record – January 10 - 11, 2018

Chemicals Management Plan Science Committee

Attendees

Committee members

• Miriam Diamond (Co-chair)
• Geoff Granville (Co-chair)
• Jon Arnot
• Niladri Basu
• Richard Becker
• Weihsueh Chiu
• Elaine Cohen Hubal
• Michelle Embry
• Mike Rasenberg

Ad hoc members

• Joel Tickner (Associate Professor, Department of Public Health at the University of Massachusetts Lowell)
• David Widawsky (Director, Chemistry, Economics and Sustainable Strategies Division, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, United States Environmental Protection Agency)
• Meredith Williams (Deputy Director, Safer Products and Workplaces Program, California Department of Toxic Substances Control)

Government of Canada officials

• David Morin [Director General, Safe Environments Directorate (SED), Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch (HECSB), Health Canada (HC)]
• Andrew Beck (Director, Risk Management Bureau, SED, HECSB, HC)
• Maya Berci (Director, New Substances Assessment and Control Bureau, SED, HECSB, HC)
• Christine Norman [Director, Existing Substances Risk Assessment Bureau (ESRAB), SED, HECSB, HC]
• Tara Barton-Maclaren (Senior Manager, ESRAB, SED, HECSB, HC)
• Mark Bonnell [Senior Science Advisor, Ecological Assessment Division, Science and Risk Assessment Division (SRAD), Science and Technology Branch (STB), Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC)]
• Andy Nong (Computational Toxicologist, Environmental Health Science and Research Bureau, HECSB, HC)
• Jake Sanderson (Manager, Horizontal Policy and Planning Unit, Program Development and Engagement Division, SRAD, STB, ECCC)
• Vallier Simard (Head, Domestic Engagement on Chemicals, Industrial Sectors, Chemicals and Waste Directorate, Environmental Protection Agency, ECCC)
• Sarah Vanden Hoven (Science Advisor, ESRAB, HECSB, HC)

Secretariat

• Julie Chouinard (Manager, ESRAB, HECSB, HC)
• Helen El-Koura (Science Advisor, ESRAB, HECSB, HC)

Guest presenters

• Nicholas Ball (Product Sustainability Consultant, Dow Chemical)
• John Davis (Senior Environmental Scientist, Dow Chemical)
• Christine Lukas (Product Stewardship and Fire Safety Manager, Dow Building Solutions)
• David Shortt (Dow Building and Construction, Dow Chemical)  

Overview

The Chemicals Management Plan (CMP) Science Committee (the committee) met on January 10-11, 2018 for the first face-to-face meeting of the second term of the committee. This meeting focused on considerations related to the advancement of responsible replacement of chemicals of concern. The committee was asked a number of charge questions including input on opportunities to support informed substitution in the CMP, input on the exploration of comparative chemical hazard evaluation tools, and consideration to the application of new approach methodologies to enhance these tools. The meeting included a presentation from a practitioner’s perspective on implementing informed substitution. A half-day was devoted to developing a preliminary response to the charge questions and next steps for formulating the committee report. Outlined below is a brief summary of the meeting.

Day 1

Agenda item #1 (Introduction)

Christine Norman (Director, HC) welcomed the new committee members, short introductions were made and the agenda was reviewed. A few logistical items were addressed by Julie Chouinard (Secretariat, HC).

Agenda item #2 (Opening remarks)

David Morin (Director General, HC) also welcomed the new committee, and thanked them for their time commitment. He provided a brief explanation of the current status of the CMP, and context for the topic of discussion.

Agenda item #3 (Introductions and declarations)

The core and ad hoc members introduced themselves and their area of work. There were no updates to affiliations and declarations noted.

Agenda items #4 and #5 (Terms of reference and future meeting topics)

Due to time constraints, these agenda items were moved to agenda item #18.

Agenda item #6 (Informed substitution: A practitioner’s perspective)

Christine Lukas of Dow Chemical presented an example of the informed substitution process undertaken by the company. Christine, along with David Shortt, Nicholas Ball and John Davis responded to questions from the committee.

Agenda item #7 (Introductions of topic and charge questions)

Geoff Granville and Miriam Diamond (Co-chairs) introduced the charge questions and noted a change to the order of the questions. HC and ECCC are seeking input on opportunities to support informed substitution in the context of the CMP, considerations related to comparative hazard screening tools and how data accumulated throughout the CMP can be used to support informed substitution.

Agenda items #8 and #9 (Perspectives from members/ad hoc members on topic)

The 3 ad hoc members, Joel Tickner, David Widawsky, and Meredith Williams, gave short presentations on the topic of discussion. A round table gave each member the opportunity to discuss their perspective on informed substitution.

Agenda items #10-11 (Discussion on charge questions)

Committee members began in-depth discussions on the charge questions. The members divided into 3 groups to discuss the first question and gathered to present responses.

Day 2

Agenda item #12 (Housekeeping items/recap of day 1)

The co-chairs provided a recap of day 1.

Agenda items #13 – 14 (Discussion on charge questions)

Committee members divided again into 3 groups to discuss the second and third charge questions, and gathered to present the responses. The committee engaged in constructive dialogue as they developed their responses to the questions.

Agenda items #15 and #16 (Committee report drafting)

The committee began drafting preliminary responses to the charge questions.

Agenda item #17 (Next steps for formulation of written report)

The committee discussed next steps for developing the report, including a meeting to review and discuss a draft report in the coming weeks.

Agenda item #18 (Revisit agenda items #4 and #5 and closing remarks)

Julie Chouinard (Secretariat, HC) gave an overview of the Terms of reference for endorsement. The Terms of reference were endorsed.

Christine Norman (Director, HC) gave a brief description of potential upcoming meeting topics and how they are selected.

The meeting was adjourned.