Federal contaminated site risk assessment in Canada: Toxicological reference values (TRVs), version 3.0

2021
ISBN: 978-0-660-36723-1
Cat.: H129-108/2021E-PDF

This guidance document (Federal Contaminated Site Risk Assessment in Canada: Toxicological Reference Values (TRVs), Version 3.0) is a companion to Federal Contaminated Site Risk Assessment in Canada: Guidance on Human Health Preliminary Quantitative Risk Assessment (PQRA), Version 3.0, and to Federal Contaminated Site Risk Assessment in Canada, Part V: Guidance on Human Health Detailed Quantitative Risk Assessment for Chemicals (DQRA_chem). This guidance was prepared to provide guidance for custodians of federal contaminated sites.

Toxicological reference values (TRVs) are prescribed by a variety of national and international agencies for the purpose of characterizing risks associated with exposure to environmental contaminants. For the assessment of potential health risks posed by substances found at federal contaminated sites in Canada, the TRVs provided in this guidance should be employed.

Significant technical revisions to this document include:

• New or updated TRVs were added to Table 1 (TRVs Recommended for Use in Human Health Risk Assessments of Federal Contaminated Sites).
• The table of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) relative potency factors that was published in Health Canada’s Part I PQRA guidance (2012) is now presented in this document.
• The table of dioxin toxic equivalency factors (TEFs) that was published in Health Canada’s Part I PQRA guidance (2012) is now presented in this document.
• Several substances and/or TRVs were removed from Table 1 because they are not commonly found at federal contaminated sites.