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AbstractThe world faces an increasing need to phase out harmful chemicals and design sustainable alternatives across various consumer products and industrial applications. Alternatives assessment is an emerging field focusing on identifying viable solutions to substitute harmful chemicals. However, current methods fail to consider trade-offs from human and ecosystem exposures, and from impacts associated with chemical supply chains and product life cycles. To close this gap, we propose a life cycle based alternatives assessment (LCAA) framework for consistently integrating quantitative exposure

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) substantially cost society as a result of increases in disease and disability but—unlike other toxicant classes such as carcinogens—have yet to be codified into regulations as a hazard category.This Series paper examines economic, regulatory, and policy approaches to limit human EDC exposures and describes potential improvements. In the EU, general principles for EDCs call for minimisation of human exposure, identification as substances of very high concern, and ban on use in pesticides. In the USA, screening and

The Toxic Truth: Children’s Exposure to Lead Pollution Undermines a Generation of Future PotentialAround 1 in 3 children – up to 800 million globally – has blood lead levels at or above 5 micrograms per decilitre (µg/dL), a level that the World Health Organization and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have stated it requires global and regional interventions.This joint report by UNICEF and Pure Earth notes that lead is a potent neurotoxin that causes irreparable harm

From 20 to 26 October 2019 the seventh International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week of action (ILPPW) took place in countries around the world. This report describes some of the activities held during the week. As with earlier years, the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint (the Lead Paint Alliance) provided a campaign resource package and a range of multilingual campaign materials. All the materials were made available from the World Health Organization (WHO) website.

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 re­lated 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

Plastics Pose a Threat to Human Health: Authoritative Reports Shows Plastics and Microplastics are Pervasive Sources of Exposure to Dangerous Endocrine-disrupting ChemicalsPlastics contain and leach hazardous chemicals, including endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) that threaten human health. An authoritative new report, Plastics, EDCs, & Health, from the Endocrine Society and the IPEN (International Pollutants Elimination Network), presents a summary of international research on the health impacts of EDCs and describes the alarming health effects of widespread contamination from EDCs in plastics.EDCs are

The Secretariat of the Strategic Approach to Chemicals Management (SAICM) and the University of Cape Town (UCT) are launching a new Community of Practice (CoP) on Lead in Paint to bring representatives from different sectors together and to create a learning network around issues related to the elimination of Lead Paint. This is a summary of the discussion on Compliance and enforcement mechanisms in a lead paint law, which took place on 10 November 2020.Presenters: Amanda Rawls (ABA-ROLI), Negin Mostaghim

The Secretariat of the Strategic Approach to Chemicals Management (SAICM) and the University of Cape Town (UCT) have launched a Community of Practice (CoP) on Chemicals and SDGs to bring representatives from different sectors together and to create a learning network around issues related to addressing Chemicals and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This is a summary of the discussion on Accelerating the implementation of SDG 12.4, which took place on 25 November 2020.Presenter: Tessa Goverse (UNEP)In 2015, world leaders

The SAICM Secretariat, in partnership with the University of Cape Town, established a community of practice on Chemicals in Products to bring representatives from different sectors together and to create a learning network around issues related to addressing Chemicals in Products (CiP). This is a summary of the discussion on Enforcement of products, which took place on 26 November 2020.Presenters: Anna Fransson (Kemi), Stéphane Content (Cefic)Enforcement is essential, and without enforcement any law will be ineffective. This also calls for

The SAICM Secretariat, in partnership with the University of Cape Town, established a community of practice on Chemicals in Products to bring representatives from different sectors together and to create a learning network around issues related to addressing Chemicals in Products (CiP). This is a summary of the discussion on Management on classes of chemicals and flame retardants in the textiles sector, which took place on 10 December 2020.Presenter: Ilch Yiliqi (NRDC)The textile industry, as one of SAICM’s priority sectors