Canada Moves to Define Which Chemicals Count as Carcinogenic Under Federal Law

Health Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada opened a consultation on October 2 that would, for the first time, set formal criteria for labeling a substance carcinogenic, mutagenic, or toxic to reproduction under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. Comments are due December 2.

The criteria matter because of what happens after a substance clears them. Under CEPA, a substance already found toxic under section 64 that meets the CMR criteria must be recommended by the ministers for addition to Part 1 of Schedule 1, the list that carries the toughest risk-management options: total, partial, or conditional prohibition of activities or releases involving the substance. The consultation is effectively building the gate that decides which chemicals get funneled toward a ban-first regime rather than lighter controls.

Cosmetics Alliance Canada, the industry group representing personal care and cosmetics companies, is urging members to read the proposed criteria against their own ingredient lists before the deadline. In its notice announcing the consultation, the group wrote that the thresholds "will establish an important threshold for determining which substances are subject to the Part 1 Schedule 1 framework and its associated risk-management requirements," and asked members to flag technical information relevant to ingredients they use.

The association, whose advocacy work falls under its CEPA file, said it is reviewing the consultation internally and will route feedback through its technical committees before submitting comments. Members who want to shape that submission have been told to reach the group's regulatory team at regulatory@cosmeticsalliance.ca, a deadline that leaves roughly eight weeks for formulators to trace which raw materials might fall under the new CMR definitions once they are finalized.