Bioaccumulative (B)
A substance is bioaccumulative when it has the potential to build up in an organism due its presence in the food or water supply. Accumulation occurs only if the substance is slow to be excreted or metabolized.
Source: Canadian Network of Toxicology Centres

Biomonitoring
Some substances that have entered the body leave markers reflecting this exposure. The marker may be the substance itself, a breakdown product of the substance, or a change in the body that results from the presence of a substance. Biomonitoring is a scientific technique for assessing human exposure to natural and synthetic chemicals. It is based on sampling and analysis of an individual's tissues and fluids. Blood, urine, breast milk and expelled air are most common sampled. Hair, nails, fat, and bone may also be included.

Biomonitoringinfo.org web site   >
Source: Environmental Health Research Foundation

Categorization
The categorization of existing substances on the Domestic Substance List (DSL) determines if any of these substances require further assessment by government. Further assessment is required if a substance:

• Presents the greatest potential for human exposure
• Is inherently toxic to humans or non-human organisms and accumulates in living tissue
• Is inherently toxic to humans or to non-human organisms and can take a long time to break down in the environment

Source: Environment Canada

CEPA
CEPA (Canadian Environmental Protection Act) is a key piece of legislation that regulates all substances from a human health and environmental protection perspective. It governs the safe use of substances in food, beverage, personal care and consumer products.

The Minister of the Environment has overall responsibility for CEPA, and works in equal partnership with the Minister of Health in areas where CEPA relates to human health.

CEPA Toxic
Under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, a substance may be considered "toxic" (as defined by legislation) if it enters, or may enter, the environment in a quantity or concentration or under conditions that:

• Have or may have an immediate or long-term harmful effect on the environment or its biological diversity;
• Constitute or may constitute a danger to the environment on which life depends; or,
• Constitute or may constitute a danger in Canada to human life or health.

For example, road salt is not a substance that is considered by most people to be toxic in the literal sense, and it provides a valuable safety benefit to Canadians. However, road salt was assessed to be "CEPA Toxic", when used in situations close to natural freshwater bodies, in quantities large enough that conditions could become too salty for freshwater organisms. Therefore, there is guidance on how much road salt to use, and where, in order to ensure environmental safety.

CEPA's definition of toxic consists of integrating the assessment of known or potential exposure to a substance with known or potential adverse effects on the environment.

The exposure or potential for exposure to a substance depends on the amount of substance released into the environment and its fate.
Source: Environment Canada, Health Canada

CSDSL
CSDSL stands for the Categorization and Screening of the Domestic Substances List (see CEPA and DSL for further information)

Domestic Substances List (DSL)
The DSL is the inventory of existing ingredients in Canada. These include those that were used in Canadian commerce, used for commercial manufacturing in Canada, or imported into Canada from 1984 to 1986. Any substance not listed on the DSL is considered to be "new" and requires notification under CEPA.

The DSL includes a wide range of ingredients, substances and chemicals that manufacturers have been using safely for many years to make such products as household cleaners (laundry detergent, dishwashing liquid, and glass cleaner), food products (cereals, juices, and salad dressings), personal care products (shampoo, toothpaste, and deodorant) and many other products used for industrial purposes.

Hazard
A hazard is the potential for a substance to cause harm.
Source: Canadian Network of Toxicology Centres

New Substance Notification
The New Substances Notification regulations of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA, 1999) ensures that no new ingredients (chemicals, polymers or animate products of biotechnology) are introduced into the Canadian marketplace before an assessment of whether they are potentially CEPA Toxic has been completed, and any appropriate or required control measures have been taken.
Source: Environment Canada

Persistence (P)
Persistence, from an environmental perspective, refers to the amount of time that substance resides in an environmental medium (human body, water, etc.). It is usually defined in terms of half-life - the time required for the concentration of a substance to diminish to half its original value. A persistent ingredients degrades very slowly, therefore it has a long half-life.
Source: Environment Canada

Precautionary Approach/Principle
The precautionary approach is a distinctive approach to managing threats of serious or irreversible harm where there is scientific uncertainty. This approach recognizes that the absence of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason to postpone decisions where there is a risk of serious or irreversible harm. Even though scientific information may be inconclusive, the approach advocates that decisions should be made to meet society's expectations that risks be addressed and living standards maintained. The precautionary principle is found in the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999.
Source: Environment Canada

Priority Substance List (PSL)
The Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA 1999, section 76) requires the Ministers of the Environment and of Health to establish a Priority Substances List (PSL) that identifies ingredients to be assessed on a priority basis to determine whether they are CEPA Toxic and pose a risk to the health of Canadians or to the environment. A priority substance may be a chemical, a group or class of chemicals, effluents or wastes.

Risk
Risk is the chance that harm will occur under exposure to a hazard. Risk can be negligible or high. Risks are part of our day-to-day lives, such as the constant conscious and unconscious assessments we make about everyday activities and actions such a driving to work, crossing a street, or caring for our families. For there to be risk, either high or low, there must be both a hazard and exposure to that hazard.
Source: CIFEC European Chemistry Industry Council

Risk vs. Hazard
The "hazard" associated with a chemical is its intrinsic ability to cause adverse effects. One example of hazard criteria is "iT" or inherent toxicity. The "risk" is the probability that such effects will occur in the various applications in which the chemical will be used and discharged (exposure scenarios). For a chemical, risk assessment takes into account both the hazards of that chemical and the exposure to it (both human and the environment). The risk assessment outcome concludes whether or not something is CEPA Toxic in its actual usage situation or application.
Source: Human and Environmental Risk Assessment Project

Risk Assessment
A risk assessment is the identification of danger and estimation of the probability of an occurrence.
Source: Canadian Network of Toxicology Centres

Screening Assessment
The Ministers of the Environment and Health are required to conduct scientific assessments on ingredients meeting the categorization criteria (see categorization above) to determine whether a substance is "toxic" or capable of becoming "toxic" as defined in CEPA 1999.
Source: Canadian Environmental Protection Act 1999

Substance
A substance is usually defined as a chemical compound. As an ingredient, it is used as part of the content in a product that people may consume or use in any way, such as a food or cosmetic. Substances play a key role in the manufacturing of all products. In some instances, the substance may simply be a very small impurity within another substance or process.

Wikipedia defines a chemical substance as: any material with a definite chemical composition, no matter where it comes from. For example, a sample of water has the same properties and the same ratio of hydrogen and oxygen whether the sample is isolated from a river or made in a laboratory. A pure substance cannot be separated into other substances by any mechanical process. Typical chemical substances found in the home are water, salt (sodium chloride) and sugar (sucrose). Generally, substances exist as solid, liquid, or gas, and may change between these phases of matter with changes in temperature or pressure. All natural and synthetic materials, including living organisms, are comprised of chemical substances.

The Canadian Environmental Protection Act (1999) defines a substance as follows:

A substance includes any distinguishable kind of organic or inorganic matter, whether animate or inanimate, and includes:

1. Any matter that is capable of being dispersed in the environment or of being transformed in the environment into matter that is capable of being so dispersed or that is capable of causing such transformations in the environment,
2. Any element or free radical,
3. Any combination of elements of a particular molecular identity that occurs in nature or as a result of a chemical reaction, and
4. Complex combinations of different molecules that originate in nature or are the result of complex chemical reactions but that could not practicably be formed by simply combining individual constituents.