Canada Regulatory Status Report, Deca-BDE:

• In July 2006, Canada’s Ministers of Environment and Health issued a document, entitled “Ecological Screening Assessment Report on Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers,” which concluded that Deca-BDE meets the criterion to be listed as a “toxic” substance under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA). This designation allows the Canadian government to consider adopting any one of a range of actions regarding the presence of Deca-BDE in the environment.

• Significantly, the screening assessment concluded that Deca-BDE is not entering the environment at a level, or in a manner, that causes concern for human health, and the Ministers did not propose to restrict the use of Deca-BDE.

• BSEF disagrees, for numerous scientific and technical reasons, that Deca-BDE meets the criterion to be listed as a toxic substance and filed formal comments to that effect during the public comment period.
• In September 2006, Environment Canada issued a “Proposed Risk Management Strategy for PBDEs,” proposing to develop, in consultation with stakeholders, an approach to minimize releases of commercial Deca-BDE to the environment from textile and plastic manufacturing operations in Canada.  Options include an Environmental Performance Agreement, a Code of Practice, a combination of the two, or other measures. The Environmental Performance Agreement is likely to be based upon VECAP, the bromine industry’s voluntary program to control and minimize industrial emissions of BFRs. BSEF is participating in the EPA Working Group along with the Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA) and Canadian Textiles Institute (CTI)

• Environment Canada also proposed to examine end-of-life and waste disposal issues as part of an approach to managing Deca-BDE.