Priority Substances List Assessment Report for Nonylphenol and its Ethoxylates

Appendix A Search Strategies Employed for Identification of Relevant Data

Environmental assessment

Data relevant to the assessment of whether nonylphenol and its ethoxylates are ";toxic" to the environment under CEPA 1999 were identified from existing review documents, published reference texts and on-line searches of the following databases for the period January 1960-December 1998: Aqualine (Water Research Centre, Buckinghamshire), ARET (Accelerated Reduction/Elimination of Toxics, Environment Canada), ASFA (Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts), BIODEG (Syracuse Research Corp.), BIOLOG, BIOSIS (Biosciences Information Services), Business Opportunities Sourcing System, CAB (Commonwealth Agriculture Bureaux), Canadian Research Index (Microlog: CRI, Government Publications/Micromedia Ltd.), Catalogue of Environmental Data in Atlantic Canada (Environment Canada, Atlantic Region), CCINFO, CESARS (Chemical Evaluation Search and Retrieval System, Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Michigan Department of Natural Resources), Chemfate (Syracuse Research Corp.), ChemINFO (Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety), CHRIS (Chemical Hazard Release Information System), CPI Profile (Camford Information Services), Current Contents (Institute for Scientific Information), Datalog (Syracuse Research Corp.), Desk References, Domestic Substances List (Environment Canada), ELIAS (Environmental Library Integrated Automated System, Environment Canada library), ENVIRODAT (Environment Canada), Enviroline (R.R. Bowker Publishing Co.), Environmental Abstracts, Environmental Bibliography (Environmental Studies Institute, International Academy at Santa Barbara), Environmental Library, Envirosource (Environment Canada), GEOREF (Geo Reference Information System, American Geological Institute), HCA (Chemical Abstracts Service), HSBD (Hazardous Substances Data Bank, U.S. National Library of Medicine), ICAR (Inventory of Canadian Agricultural Research, Canadian Agri-food Research Council), IRL (Life Sciences Collection, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts), IRPTC (International Register of Potentially Toxic Chemicals, Geneva), Life Sciences (Cambridge Scientific Abstracts), MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets, Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety), NATES (National Analysis of Trends in Emergencies System, Environment Canada), National Emission Inventory (Canadian Chemical Producers Association), National Registry of Toxic Chemical Residues (National Wildlife Research Centre, Environment Canada), Northern Info Network, NPRI (National Pollutant Release Inventory, Environment Canada), NTIS (National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce), Pesticide Registrant Survey (Environment Canada and Agriculture Canada), Pollution Abstracts (Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, U.S. National Library of Medicine), POLTOX (Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, U.S. National Library of Medicine), REPEN (Répertoire informatisé des bases de données environnementales sur le Fleuve Saint-Laurent, Environment Canada, Quebec Region), RRETC (River Road Environmental Technology Centre monitoring data), RTECS (Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances, U.S. National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health), Statistics Canada Import/Export Merchandise Trade Vols. I-II, Synopsis Northern Contaminants Program, Toxline (U.S. National Library of Medicine), TRI87-94 (Toxic Chemical Release Inventory, Office of Toxic Substances, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), USEPA-ASTER (Assessment Tools for the Evaluation of Risk, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), USEPA-ECOTOX (including AQUIRE; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), USEPA-National Catalog (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) and WASTEINFO (Waste Management Information Bureau, American Energy Agency).

A survey conducted under authority of Section 16 of CEPA, for which companies were required to supply information on uses, releases, environmental concentrations, effects or other data on nonylphenol and its ethoxylates if they met the trigger quantity of 1000 kg of NP/NPEs per year, was used to collect data on industrial uses and releases in 1995 and 1996 (Environment Canada, 1997b). Reveal Alert was used to maintain an ongoing record of the current scientific literature pertaining to the environmental effects of nonylphenol and its ethoxylates.

Only data acquired prior to December 1998 were considered in the environmental assessment unless they were critical data received during the 60-day public review of the report (April 1 to May 31, 2000).

Health assessment

Information on the toxicological effects of nonylphenol and its ethoxylates as well as other relevant data were derived primarily from reviews, including a recent draft Environmental Health Criteria document on these substances (WHO, 1998) and a review of major surfactants by Talmage (1994); however, the original references were verified for all potentially critical effects. In addition, several on-line databases were searched between December 1997 and May 1999 to identify relevant data on exposure and toxicity of nonylphenol and its ethoxylates that were not included in the reviews. Searches were conducted on the following databases: Canadian Research Index (Canadian governmental and institutional resources), Cancerlit (National Cancer Institute's International Cancer Information Center), CCINFO (Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety), CHRIS (Chemical Hazard Response Information System, U.S. Coast Guard), Environmental Bibliography (Environmental Studies Institute, International Academy at Santa Barbara), Food Science and Technology Abstracts, HSDB (Hazardous Substances Data Bank, U.S. National Library of Medicine), IRIS (Integrated Risk Information System, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), Medline (U.S. National Library of Medicine), MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets), NIOSHTIC (National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health), NTIS (National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce), OHMTADS (Oil and Hazardous Materials/ Technical Assistance Data System, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), Pollution Abstracts (Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, U.S. National Library of Medicine), RTECS (Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances, U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health), Toxline (U.S. National Library of Medicine), Waternet (American Water Works Association) and Water Resources Abstracts (U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior). In addition to the above sources of information, numerous provincial and federal government officials and representatives of various industrial sectors were contacted between February and August 1996 for data relevant to exposure and/or effects. In view of the relatively limited database available for assessment of the toxicity and exposure of nonylphenol and its ethoxylates, additional attempts were made to acquire copies of unpublished information through contact with representatives of industry and other Canadian federal and international agencies. In response to these requests, the Chemical Manufacturers Association's Alkylphenols and Ethoxylates Panel kindly provided several unpublished and published reports, including the following: Richards, 1989; Clairol Inc., 1995; CIR, 1996; CMA, 1997; and Müller, 1997. In addition, general information on the use of NP/NPEs in pest control products in Canada was provided by the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (Moore, 1999). Non-validated studies of Industrial Bio-Test Laboratories Inc., which are a subset of the studies summarized in a 1969 review by Smyth and Calandra, have been cited in this report but are not used in assessing whether nonylphenol and its ethoxylates are ";toxic" under CEPA 1999.

Only data acquired prior to November 1999 were considered in this draft screening assessment for human health.