2 December 2014: The International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN) has published an updated version of its 2008 guide for NGOs to the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM), in advance of the second meeting of the Open-ended Working Group (OEWG 2) of the International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM), which will consider SAICM’s implementation, development and enhancement. The ‘NGO Guide to SAICM: A Framework for Action to Protect Human Health and the Environment from Toxic Chemicals’ discusses developments since the first edition, and includes information about lead and pesticide poisoning and emerging toxics issues.

The guide provides a brief history of toxic chemicals and efforts to control them, and discusses DDT, PCBs, mercury and lead, the first generation of chemical control regulations, and toxic chemicals in products.

It also covers the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, the 1992 Rio Earth Summit and the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety (IFCS), the Stockholm Convention on POPs and the Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) Code of Conduct, and the growth of international NGO networks.

The guide provides a detailed description of SAICM, including scope, overall objectives, risk reduction objectives, knowledge and information objectives, governance objectives, capacity-building objectives, illegal international traffic objectives, financial considerations, implementation and taking stock of progress, the SAICM Global Plan of Action and SAICM as a tool for action. The publication also discusses national legislation and regulations, and EU REACH (Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals) legislation and the principles on which it is based.

Finally, the publication explains technical and financial assistance to implement SAICM, chemical safety and sustainable development, and NGO efforts. An annex includes a NGO/CSO Global Common Statement on SAICM.

IPEN notes that Arabic, French, Spanish and Russian versions of the booklet will be finalized shortly.

IPEN is a global network of public interest NGOs promoting safe chemicals management through the SAICM process (where it holds the public interest organization seat on the SAICM Bureau), stopping the spread of toxic metals, and working towards a toxics-free future.

ICCM’s OEWG 2 will take place on 15-17 December 2014, in Geneva, Switzerland. [IPEN Press Release] [Publication: NGO Guide to SAICM: A Framework for Action to Protect Human Health and the Environment from Toxic Chemicals] [IISD RS Coverage of OEWG 2]