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IFCS
Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety
15 November 2004
Vol.4 No.9 Rev.1
Information Circular
NOTE: OECD article has been revised
Table of Contents
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Global Women's Assembly on Environment
NEPAD endorses CropLife Africa Middle East Harmonisation Initiative
OECD list of HPV Chemicals
UNEP Division of Technology, Industry and Economics: Managing the risks of
chemicals
Global Women's Assembly on Environment
The United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) first Global Women's Assembly on
Environment: Women as the Voice for the Environment (WAVE) was held from 11-13 October
2004, in Nairobi, Kenya. WAVE undertook an assessment of the commitments made by
governments, the international community and major groups since the UN Conference on
Environment and Development (1992). Over 150 participants from 60 countries attended the
Assembly.
The outcome document from the Assembly is a Manifesto including recommendations and
project ideas, which will be brought forward to relevant intergovernmental meetings, including
the Beijing +10 review session and the WSSD follow-up.
Several of the recommendations in the Manifesto relate directly to chemical safety. For
example, the Assembly called for:
 The precautionary approach to be applied to prevent negative effects on women's
health by pollutants and toxins.
 The substitution principle to be applied to the manufacture and use of toxic
substances.
 Chemical substances contained in products to be fully listed.
 Norms and standards for use of and exposure to hazardous chemicals to take into
account the specific vulnerability of women.
 Gender-disaggregated data on chemicals and pollutants.
These recommendations provide additional guidance on the scope and target of a number of
the IFCS Priorities for Action Beyond 2000 and the IFCS Forum IV Recommendations (both
documents may be found at: www.ifcs.ch); in particular, the IFCS efforts in the area of
Children and Chemical Safety.
Governments and organizations are encouraged to review the recommendations from the
Assembly and to consider how these might be addressed in existing and new initiatives.
Further information may be found at: http://www.unep.org/dpdl/cso/WAVE/default.asp
Secretariat: c/o World Health Organization, 20 Avenue Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland
Tel: +41 (22) 791 3873/1334/3650; Fax: +41 (22) 791 4875; Email: [email protected]; Website: www.ifcs.ch
NEPAD endorses CropLife Africa Middle East Harmonisation Initiative
The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) recently endorsed CropLife Africa
Middle East's regulatory harmonisation initiative for East and Southern African countries.
The South East Africa Regulatory Committee on Harmonisation (SEARCH) aims to promote
and harmonize the regulatory legislation and procedures related to the registration and
handling of agrochemical pesticides, based on international standards.
For further information, please contact: Les Hillowitz at [email protected], or Keith
Jones at [email protected].
OECD list of HPV Chemicals
The 2004 OECD List of High Production Volume Chemicals is now available at:
http://www.oecd.org/env/existingchemicals
Chemicals listed in this document are produced at levels greater than 1,000 tons per year in
at least one member country/region. Chemicals on this list are selected by OECD member
countries for co-operative investigation, resulting in internationally agreed initial hazard
assessments based on a Screening Information Data Set, or SIDS. The intention is to
screen chemicals for potential hazards, so that resources can be concentrated on undertaking
further work on chemicals of concern. To date about one-fourth of the chemicals on the HPV
List have been assessed in OECD
UNEP Division of Technology, Industry and Economics: Managing the risks of
chemicals
The latest edition of Industry and Environment (Volume 27, No2-3, April-September 2004), a
publication of the UNEP Division of Technology, Industry and Economics, focuses on
Managing the risks of chemicals.
This publication will be of interest to all IFCS participants, as it includes articles related to
global chemicals management, international chemicals conventions, the precautionary
principle, cleaner production and community "right to know".
Managing the risks of chemicals may be found at:
http://www.uneptie.org/media/review/ie_home.htm