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Environmental Impact Initiative
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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, 1999 (CEPA 1999). CEPA 1999 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 on human health and the environment of substances in products regulated under the F&DA, and to identify best practices to help manage them.
As the development of the new regulatory regime continues, Health Canada is conducting environmental risk assessments for these substances under the New Substances Notification Regulations (NSNR).
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