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Chemicals of concern (CoCs) contained in everyday products can have harmful impacts on human health and the environment. While chemical-related impacts can often occur during a product’s use or end-of-life, decisions influencing product ingredients are taken further upstream of the value chain. Action to address CoCs in products thus need to consider the entire value chain and impactful interventions need to be made at upstream stages to protect human health and the environment from chemical pollution. UNEP is working on

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 Climate Change and Chemicals: Connections and Consequences, which took place on 22 September 2021.Presenters: Prof. Alistair Boxall (ECORISC CDT)

The SAICM Secretariat, in partnership with the University of Cape Town, established a community of practice on Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs) to foster discussions, exchange of best practices, and recommendations to address HHPs amongst relevant stakeholders. This is a summary of the discussion on Alternatives in Phasing Out HHPs: Industry innovations and the Substitution process, which took place on 15 September 2020.Presenters: Dr Lilian Tornqvist (Keml), Dr Andy Ward (CropLife International)This discussion aimed to promote engagement with and an understanding

The SAICM Secretariat, in partnership with the University of Cape Town, established a community of practice on Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs) to foster discussions, exchange of best practices, and recommendations to address HHPs amongst relevant stakeholders. This is a summary of the discussion on Alternatives to HHPs – What are elements of success?, which took place on 20 October 2020.Presenters: Mark Davis (independent consultant), Harold Van de Valk (Falconsult), Dr Ayanthi Karunarathne (Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka), Sivapragasam Annamalai (CABI)

Both reports arose from the Danish project “NanoDEN”, commissioned by the Danish EPA.Environmental fate and behaviour of nanomaterials by Hartmann N, Skjolding L, Foss Hansen S, Gottschalk F, Baun A (2014)The report 1 provides an overview of the to date knowledge regarding processes relevant for environmental fate and behaviour of ENMs. Key environmental processes are identified, discussed and prioritized according to their relevance as inputs for fate modelling for ENMs. Furthermore, knowledge gaps are identified and prioritised with regard to

The production and use of nanoparticles leads to the emission of manufactured or engineered nanoparticles into the environment. Those particles undergo many possible reactions and interactions in the environment they are exposed to. These reactions and the resulting behavior and fate of nanoparticles in the environment have been studied for decades through naturally occurring nanoparticulate (1-100 nm) and colloidal (1-1000 nm) substances. The knowledge gained from these investigations is nowhere near sufficiently complete to create a detailed model of the

The present review covers developments in studies of nanomaterials (NMs) in the environment since our much cited review in 2008. We discuss novel insights into fate and behavior, metrology, transformations, bioavailability, toxicity mechanisms, and environmental impacts, with a focus on terrestrial and aquatic systems. Overall, the findings were that: 1) despite substantial developments, critical gaps remain, in large part due to the lack of analytical, modeling, and field capabilities, and also due to the breadth and complexity of the area

The German Environment Agency (UBA) webpage on advanced materials highlights UBA´s current preparatory research and thematic conferences on advanced materials. It reflects UBA´s opinion with regard to potential challenges and needs connected to advanced materials from the perspective of chemical safety, i.e. as summarized in a joint perspective paper on good governance developed by the higher federal authorities the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) and the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) and UBA.

The German Environment Agency (UBA) webpage on nanotechnology indicates its activities and opinions as well as research efforts with regard to adequate regulation and safety assessment of manufactured nanomaterials and highlights relevant topics, actors, programs and networks including providing relevant links. Current research supervised by UBA is presented and finalized research is published as reports at this webpage.

The webpage presents OECD`s activities with regard to safety of manufactured nanomaterials starting back in 2006. By this, OECD intends to promote international co-operation in human health and environmental safety aspects of manufactured nanomaterials. The website provides publications developed within the OECD Working Party of Manufactured Nanomaterials, reports of previous workshops, projects and testing programs, the OECD council recommendation on safety testing and assessment of manufactured nanomaterials, but also videos of webinars on dedicated topics. Currently, one of the main