6 resources found

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Factsheets and brochures

Addressing Chemicals of Concern: Key messages and lessons learned

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February 2024
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This document summarises lessons learned from the various project activities in three sectors: electrical and electronic equipment (EEE); building and construction; and toys. It also formulates key messages addressed to different stakeholder groups and provides links to guidance and tools developed under the GEF project

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Case studies

Women Leaders: Addressing Chemicals and Waste Issues

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IPEN ,
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June 2022
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People of all gender identities must have the same rights and opportunities to participate fully in their communities, free from the health threats posed by toxic chemicals. It is especially important to understand the factors that put women at risk from chemical health threats.

The IPEN report ā€œWomen Leaders: Addressing Chemicals and Waste Issuesā€ highlights women’s leadership through ten organizations from around the world working to address chemical health threats. The report was developed within the framework of the United Nations Environment Program and its Global Environment Facility (GEF), under the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM), executed by the SAICM Secretariat. It was produced with support from the Swedish Government.

Women face greater risks from chemical exposures and experience higher rates of adverse health outcomes because of their physiology, different types of occupational exposures, and differential exposures to chemicals, including from personal care and household products. Women are also exposed to chemicals — such as endocrine disrupting chemicals, lead in paint, and chemicals in toys — that pose health threats during pregnancy and to their developing children.

These toxic exposures can lead to serious health problems that impact women’s lives and their opportunities to participate in their communities fully and equally. This is especially so for women in low-income communities who are often managing multiple pathways for toxic exposures and multiple obstacles to gender equality.

Women cannot be empowered nor gender equality achieved while exposures to hazardous chemicals put them at risk for cancer, chronic illnesses, infertility, and damage to their nervous systems.

In 2015, the United Nations Member States adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). ā€œGender Equalityā€ is one of the goals (Goal 5) and the SDGs also recognize that gender equality is a prerequisite for reaching most of the other goals. Reducing and eliminating chemical exposures will also be essential for achieving all of the 17 goals.

The stories that follow highlight women across the globe who are leading work in their communities, nations, and internationally for stronger protections from harmful chemicals. Supporting their work and the work of countless other women who are leading similar efforts will be critical for achieving the SDGs.

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Manuals and toolkits

The Gender and Chemicals Road Map + Workbook

The road map lays out actions and provides guidance on how to fully integrate gender in national chemicals management. These steps are meant to give support and direction to actors engaged in national chemicals management, especially SAICM National Focal Points. The accompanying workbook helps to prioritize and plan your activities step by step. Additionally, SAICM Focal Points and other stakeholders might be at different stages of capacity development, and priority actions and objectives will differ depending on the individual national context - the workbook, therefore, allows you to develop your specific process of integrating gender.

Policy document

Understanding chemicals in products: SAICM Policy Brief

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November 2019
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The transparency of information about chemicals in global supply chains has been an emerging policy issue for the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) since 2009, leading to programmes such as the UNEP Chemicals in Products (CiP) Programme. The CiP programme focuses specifically on the textiles, toys, electronics and building materials sectors.Information exchange in the value chain is key in identifying and addressing any chemicals of concern1 in products. Brands and retailers frequently lack crucial knowledge about the properties

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Report

List of Chemicals of Concern and of potential alternatives for toys sector, with supporting information on criteria and selection

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September 2019
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In this report, we present a list of Chemicals of Concern (CoCs) in plastic toys, with supporting information on the applied selection criteria. To identify the CoCs, we started from a literature review of available plastic toys compositions studies, and obtained the chemical mass fraction in plastic toy as well as the chemical functions. The chemical emissions from the plastic toys and subsequent human exposures were then estimated using a series of models and the coupled nearfield and far-field exposure assessment framework. Finally, the human exposure doses were compared to toxicity measures such as the reference dose (RfD), or median effective dose (ED50) for cancer effects, to evaluate the health risks on children. Chemical-material combinations that have a hazard quotient (HQ) > 10, a margin of exposure (MoE) < 100, or a lifetime cancer risk > 10-6 were included in the list of CoCs. In total, 35 (less than 10%) of all chemical-material combinations studied were identified as CoCs. The results indicate that a relevant amount of chemicals used in plastic toys may pose a non-negligible health risk to children, calling for more refined investigations and more human- and eco-friendly alternatives.

This document has been developed within the framework of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) project ID: 9771 on Global Best Practices on Emerging Chemical Policy Issues of Concern under the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM). This project is funded by the GEF, implemented by UNEP and executed by the SAICM Secretariat.

Emerging Policy Issues: Chemicals in products
Report

Women, Chemicals and the SDGs

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IPEN , SAICM ,
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December 2020
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Gender Review Mapping with a Focus on Women and Chemicals: Impact of Emerging Policy Issues and the Relevance for the Sustainable Development GoalsThe aim of this report is to show the impact chemicals have on women as a vulnerable group highly exposed to hazardous chemicals and gender inequalities reĀ­lated to decision-making around the management of chemicals and waste. The report also means to provide concrete steps that can be taken to safeguard the health of women and empower women in
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