The Canadian government plans to resume publishing updates on its chemical substance reviews "in the coming weeks", Chemical Watch has learned, after a more than month-long hiatus tied to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The last information update for the Chemicals Management Plan (CMP) was published on 30 March. The "primary reason" for a gap in updates was because of the federal response to the novel coronavirus, according to a spokesperson for Environment and Climate Change Canada.
"In the early stages of the pandemic, the Canada Gazette only published Covid-19 related notices, urgent notices or notices that met a statutory requirement," they said.
But as of 19 May, the Gazette has resumed its normal operations. Publications therefore "are expected to resume in the coming weeks".
The CMP programme has "continued to progress on the development of materials for publication" said the spokesperson. But they did not specifically address whether the disruption would affect the government’s ability to meet the assessment publication schedule set out in the 2019-21 two-year rolling plan, which was last updated in July 2019.
Assessments scheduled to be released in the April to September timeframe include:
- a problem formulation for bisphenols;
- draft screening assessments for hydrogen sulfide, substituted phenols and petroleum-based substances; and
- final screening assessments for phthalates, pigments and dyes, antimony, benzophenone and fatty acids and their derivatives.