Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2013C00288:reg:6:p6
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2013C00288
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 6 (pt 6/12)
Character Range: 1065330–1068925

lifetime cancer risk of less than 1 in 1,000,000 as acceptable and cancer risks greater than 1 in 10,000 as unacceptable (NSW DEC 2005). In between these two limits, proponents should demonstrate best practice for development applications to be approved.

In Victoria, for planning purposes, the Environmental Protection Agency uses an excess lifetime cancer risk of 1 in 100,000 for individual chemicals and cumulative excess lifetime cancer risk. However their intervention levels for chemicals in regional air sheds are based on an excess lifetime cancer risk of 1 in 100,000.

In Western Australia, the Department of Health (WA DoH 2009) has developed screening levels for asbestos that are based on a range of lifetime risks of 1 in 1,000,000 to 1 in 100,000.
The cancer risk criteria used by various international agencies are summarised in Table 8. The values range between 1 in 1,000,000 and 1 in 10,000.
Table 8. International Non-Threshold Risk Criteria Adopted as Acceptable
Organisation    Acceptable risk level                                 Context                                                                                         Comments
WHO             1:100,000                                             WHO Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality (WHO 2011)                                            Concentrations representing excess lifetime cancer risks of 10-4, 10-5 and 10-6 risk are presented, and the recommended guideline value is associated with 10-5 cancer risk. WHO (2011) accepts that this is a conservative recommendation, which 'almost certainly overestimates the true risk'. WHO (2011) considers that 'there is some (theoretical) risk at any level of exposure' to carcinogens.
WHO             Unit risk estimate (i.e. risk per 1 µg/m3) presented  WHO Air Quality Guidelines (WHO 2000, 2010)                                                     WHO consider that the decision on the acceptability of a risk should be made by national authorities within the frame work of risk management. Similar to the WHO Drinking Water Guidelines (WHO 2011), concentrations in air associated with an excess cancer risk of 10-4, 10-5 and 10-6 are given.
US EPA          1:1,000,000                                           US EPA (1996) Soil Screening Levels                                                             EPA (1996a) believes that '… setting a 10-6 risk level for individual chemicals and pathways will generally lead to cumulative risks within the risk range (10-4  to 10-6) for the combinations of chemicals typically found at Superfund sites.'
Netherlands     1:10,000                                              Technical evaluation of the Intervention Values for Soil/sediment and Groundwater (RIVM 2001).  For genotoxic carcinogens, the acceptable excess lifetime cancer risk was set at 1 per 10,000 individuals. For non-genotoxic carcinogens, the MPR does not result in any adverse health effects during lifetime exposure (70 years) (RIVM 2001).
United Kingdom  1:100,000                                             EA (2009)                                                                                       UK generally prefers not to use quantitative expressions of acceptable risk and does not base policy specifically on them. 1 in 100,000 is the risk level used when the UK judges that a linear low dose extrapolation is the most appropriate basis for its Index Dose.
Canada          1:100,000                                             Health Canada (2004)                                                                            This