Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Standing Committee (EM&A) Chemicals Management Forum San Antonio, Texas May 15-16, 2012 Commission for Environmental Cooperation

2 1999: North American Regional Action Plan (NARAP) on Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (EM&A) in support of the SMOC initiative that, among other things, promotes collaboration in acquiring environmental data and information to assess exposure to substances of concern and the risks they pose to human health and the environment 2008: Develop and implement a sustainable regional approach to environmental and human biomonitoring and assessment to enhance North American monitoring capacity, with an early emphasis on supporting Mexico in the initial stages of implementation of its National Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (Programa Nacional de Monitoreo y Evaluación Ambiental—Proname) 2010: The EMA SC supports the Sound Management of Chemicals Working Group in “…continental management of chemicals of concern.” Background

3 Serve as a trinational forum for promoting cooperation and sharing knowledge in monitoring and assessing persistent toxic substances in the North American environment Work to improve the comparability, quality, relevance and availability of environmental information on the status, trends of persistent toxic substances Direct beneficiaries are governments, academics and private laboratories in Mexico What it does

4 Objectives and Goals of EM&A Assist the Parties in increasing the comparability, reliability, relevance and availability of data and information on chemicals Seek to improve the information needed to identify and assess trends and concerns related to contaminants and stressors that affect the environment and human health In order to ensure an integrated North American data set, place continued emphasis on supporting Mexico’s monitoring and evaluation program (Programa Nacional de Monitoreo y Evaluación Ambiental— Proname)

5 Highlights of EM&A Work 1.Comparability/Reliability of Data Training: e.g., POPs in environmental matrices Workshops: e.g., Chemical data analysis, modelling atmospheric fate and transport Intercalibration exercises: e.g., Atmospheric chemistry Lab validation exercises: e.g., Developed guidelines for interlaboratory validation Guidance documents: e.g., Biomonitoring initiatives

6 Highlights of EM&A Work (cont’d) 2.Information for assessing trends and concerns – Trinational blood biomonitoring project – Compendium of trinational monitoring initiatives – Supporting SMOC initiatives, including gathering information on: – PCBs – Lindane – DDT – Mercury – Dioxins and Furans 3.Mexico’s monitoring and evaluation program (Programa Nacional de Monitoreo y Evaluación Ambiental—Proname)

7 North American Trilateral Maternal Blood Study SAMPLING SITES Results: As expected, mothers from Mexico had higher concentrations of p,p’-DDT and p,p’-DDE due to its more recent use in Mexico. Lower concentrations of PCBs were seen in Mexican mothers compared to those in Canada and the United States. In Mexico, it was found that mothers of Coatzacoalcos, a center of the Mexican petrochemical industry, had the highest concentration of several POPs (p,p´-DDE p,p´- DDT, PCDDs) Merida, an urban area without major sources of contaminant exposure, had higher concentrations of several PCB congeners Conclusion This study provides an indication of the concentrations of POPs/metals in pregnant women in North America and Mexico, plus the need for an ongoing surveillance program among vulnerable populations to pinpoint sources of higher exposure. The purpose of this sampling was to obtain an initial profile of levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and metals in pregnant women from Canada, Mexico and the United States.

8 Wet Deposition of Hg in North America (2003) First subcontinental Mercury Monitoring Network for the three countries: Canada, Mexico and the USA.

PART 2 Proname National PBT Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program

10 General Objective Reduce and/or eliminate persistent bioaccumulative and toxic substances in Mexican ecosystems, through a long-term (more than 25 years) national environmental-biological monitoring program that contributes to ecosystem and human health.

Future sites Celestún Valle del Yaqui Manantlá n Valle de Bravo Coatzacalcos Cd Juárez Sinaloa Mapimí Zacatecas Monterrey Huasteca Potosina Salamanca Pochutla Lacandon jungle Proname Sites in Operation

12 soil sediment water air biota Persistent bioaccumulative toxic substances (PBTs) Environmental media & components Humans 2009 to date 10 initial POPs (organochlorine pesticides) Metals (Hg, Cd and Pb, among others) Polyaromatic hydrocarbons PCBs initial POPs (organochlorine pesticides) Metals (Hg, Cd and Pb, among others) Polyaromatic hydrocarbons PCBs + 10 new POPs (selection) Implementation of biomonitoring program (2012) Institutional strategy to begin biomonitoring program - To be defined Substances and Environmental Compartments (Proname)

Valle del Yaqui, Son. R.B. Sierra de Manatlán, Jal. R.B. Ría Celestún, Yuc. Presence of Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxic Substances at Proname Sites, in Different Environmental Media & Components WATERBIOTA (Animal)BIOTA (Plant)SOILSEDIMENT Metals PAH PCB POP WATERBIOTA (Animal)BIOTA (Plant)SOILSEDIMENT Metals PAH PCB POP Valle de Bravo, Edo de Mex. Starting in 2012 Coatzacoalcos, Ver.. WATERBIOTA (Animal)BIOTA (Plant)SOILSEDIMENT Metals PAH PCB POP WATERBIOTA (Animal)BIOTA (Plant)SOILSEDIMENT Metals PAH PCB POP No sampling

mg/kg inorganic mercury Farm soil Canadian Soil Quality Guidelines for the Protection of Environmental and Human Health

mg/kg Total DDT Farm soil Canadian Soil Quality Guidelines for the Protection of Environmental and Human Health

mg/kg Naphthalene Farm soil Canadian Soil Quality Guidelines for the Protection of Environmental and Human Health Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons PRONAME 80,000,000 85,000, , ,000

17

18 POPs Air Monitoring Program The POPs Air Monitoring Program is being implemented under the Proname umbrella, which in turn: – Fulfills the commitments established within the CEC EM&A working group – Supplies POP data for the Global Monitoring Plan (GMP) under the Stockholm Convention – Includes five sites: Two form part of the Global Atmospheric Passive Sampling Network (GAPS).

sampling sites Modified: October 15, 2010 GAPS – Global Context Global Atmospheric Passive Sampling Network ~55 sites since 2005 Monitoring (reporting to GMP) Surveillance (new priority chemicals) GAPS Network:

20 Proname Sites

21 POPs Monitoring Sites in Mexico PRONAME/GAPS sites include the first 12 Stockholm Convention POP plus some of the 10 new POP: – Ría Celestún, Yucatán, beginning April 2009 (background site) – Valle del Yaqui, Sonora, beginning April 2009 (farm site) PRONAME sites measuring organochlorine pesticides and PCBs: – Manantlán, Jalisco, beginning July 2010 (background site) – Valle de Bravo, Mexico State, beginning April 2011 (transitional pilot site) – Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, beginning April 2011 (industrial site)

22 Proname Microsite

23 PRONAME

PART 3 Next Steps for EM&A

25 Next Steps Contribute to advancing sound management of chemicals: -Support Proname at two new sites -Continue support of research needs on specific chemicals, such as mercury deposition and dioxin monitoring -Continue support to Mexico as it develops its biomonitoring programs -Generate a report on SMOC contributions to SAICM for ICCM3

26 Challenges Consolidate a network of analytical laboratories in Mexico Consolidate chemical specific monitoring into overall Proname Share methodologies to identify communities and ecosystems at risk Interpretation and evaluation of data, including data comparison at a regional level and how best use the current data available Increase transparency by sharing results with stakeholders

27 For additional information CEC website: odeID=1019 Proname website:

28 Thank you EM&A Co-chairs: Canada: Nicole Davidson Mexico: Ana Patricia Martínez US: Ana Corado