Priority Substances List Assessment Report for Butylbenzylphthalate

Appendix A Search Strategies Employed for Identification of Relevant Data

Environmental assessment

Data relevant to the assessment of whether BBP is "toxic" to the environment under CEPA were identified from existing review documents, published reference texts and on-line searches, conducted between January and April 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, 1994, 1995, up to 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), USEPAASTER (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), Water Resources Abstracts (U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior; 1990-1996). A survey of Canadian industry was carried out under authority of Section 16 of CEPA (Environment Canada, 1997c). Companies were required to provide information on uses, releases, environmental concentrations, effects or other data that were available to them for BBP if they met the trigger quantity of 500 kg of BBP per year. Reveal Alert was used to maintain an ongoing record of the current scientific literature pertaining to the potential environmental effects of BBP. Data obtained after May 31, 1998, were not considered in this assessment unless they were critical data received during the 60-day public review of the report (May 1 to June 29, 1999).

Health assessment

Data relevant to the assessment of whether BBP is "toxic" to human health obtained after April 1998 have not been included.

To identify data relevant to the estimation of exposure of the general human population to BBP, on-line literature searches were conducted in February 1994) on the following databases: AQUAREF (Inland Waters Directorate, Environment Canada; 1970-1994), EMBASE on-line version of Excerpta Medica; 1974-1994) and Pollution Abstracts (Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, U.S. National Library of Medicine; 1970-1994).

Numerous provincial officials and representatives of various industrial sectors were contacted between February and August of 1996 for monitoring data relevant to exposure and effects.

To identify data relevant to the assessment of effects on human health, on-line literature searches were conducted (in February 1994) on the following databases: CESARS (Chemical Evaluation Search and Retrieval System, Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Michigan Department of Natural Resources), DART (Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology, U.S. National Library of Medicine; 1989-1994), EMIC (Environmental Mutagen Information Center database, Oak Ridge National Laboratory; 1989-1994) and EMICBACK (backfile of EMIC; 1950-1988), ETICBACK (backfile of Environmental Teratology Information Center database, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences), HSDB (Hazardous Substances Data Bank, U.S. National Library of Medicine), IRIS (Integrated Risk Information System, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), NTIS (National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce; 1980-1994), RTECS (Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances, U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) and Toxline (U.S. National Library of Medicine; 1989-1994). Relevant data were also identified through reviews by Skinner (1992), the U.S. EPA (1987, 1991) and BIBRA (1992).