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Priority Substances List Assessment Report for 2-Methoxyethanol

Appendix A: Search Strategies Employed for Identification of Relevant Data

Environmental assessment

Data relevant to the assessment of whether 2-methoxyethanol is "toxic" to the environment under CEPA 1999 were identified from existing review documents, published reference texts and on-line searches, conducted between January and May 1996, of the following databases: ASFA (Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts; 1990-1996), BIOSIS (Biosciences Information Services; 1990-1996), CAB (Commonwealth Agriculture Bureaux; 1990-1996), CESARS (Chemical Evaluation Search and Retrieval System, Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Michigan Department of Natural Resources; 1996), CHRIS (Chemical Hazard Release Information System; 1964-1985), Current Contents (Institute for Scientific Information; 1993 - January 15, 1996), ELIAS (Environmental Library Integrated Automated System, Environment Canada library; January 1996), Enviroline (R.R. Bowker Publishing Co.; November 1995 - June 1996), Environmental Abstracts (1975 - February 1996), Environmental Bibliography (Environmental Studies Institute, International Academy at Santa Barbara; 1990-1996), GEOREF (Geo Reference Information System, American Geological Institute; 1990-1996), HSDB (Hazardous Substances Data Bank, U.S. National Library of Medicine; 1996), Life Sciences (Cambridge Scientific Abstracts; 1990-1996), NTIS (National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce; 1990-1996), Pollution Abstracts (Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, U.S. National Library of Medicine; 1990-1996), POLTOX (Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, U.S. National Library of Medicine; 1990-1995), RTECS (Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances, U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; 1996), Toxline (U.S. National Library of Medicine; 1990-1996), TRI93 (Toxic Chemical Release Inventory, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Toxic Substances; 1993), USEPA-ASTER (Assessment Tools for the Evaluation of Risk, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; up to December 21, 1994), WASTEINFO (Waste Management Information Bureau of the American Energy Agency; 1973 - September 1995) and Water Resources Abstracts (U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior; 1990-1996). Reveal Alert was used to maintain an ongoing record of the current scientific literature pertaining to the potential environmental effects of 2-methoxyethanol. Data obtained after September 30, 1999, were not considered in this assessment unless they were critical data received during the 60-day public review of the report (August 19 to October 18, 2000).

In addition, a survey of Canadian industry was carried out under the authority of Section 16 of CEPA (Environment Canada, 1997b, 1997c). Targeted companies with commercial activities involving more than 1000 kg of 2-methoxyethanol were required to supply information on uses, releases, environmental concentrations, effects or other data that were available to them for 2-methoxyethanol.

Health assessment

In addition to studies included in the review prepared by BIBRA International, recent data have been identified through searching the following databases beginning in August 1996 using the chemical name or the CAS number for both 2-methoxyethanol and 2-methoxyethyl acetate: CAB Abstracts, Canadian Research Index, DIALOG (Cancerlit, Environmental Bibliography, Waternet, Water Resources Abstracts, Enviroline, Pollution Abstracts and NTIS), Food Science and Technology Abstracts, Medline, Toxline Plus and TOXNET (CCRIS [Chemical Carcinogenesis Research Information System, U.S. National Cancer Institute], GENE-TOX [Genetic Toxicology, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency] and EMIC [Environmental Mutagen Information Center database, Oak Ridge National Laboratory]). Data acquired as of October 1999 were considered for inclusion in this assessment.

As well as these databases, officials at the Product Safety Bureau and Drugs Directorate of Health Canada, along with the Pest Management Regulatory Agency, were contacted to obtain information relevant to this assessment.