Chemical incidents that lead to human exposure present an
important public health challenge both nationally and globally.
These incidents can range from an obvious chemical release,
e.g. a leak or spill, to a less immediately apparent event such as
contamination of a product.
The international community, through the World Health
Assembly, has recognized the need to strengthen surveillance
for chemical incidents. There are three main reasons for doing
this. First, the continuing rapid growth and globalization
of the chemicals industry means that chemical incidents will
continue to be a problem. Second, chemical incidents may have
an impact beyond their original location, in some cases crossing
national borders. For example, in north-west Romania cyanide
was released from a gold mine into the local river system, leading
to fish deaths in three countries (1). The global sale of a
brand of dialysis filters contaminated with perfluoroisobutylene
is another example. This led to deaths in Colombia, Croatia,
Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United States of America, before
the problem was discovered (2, 3). Third, there is concern regarding
the deliberate use of chemicals for terrorist purposes,
engendered by events such as the use of sarin on the Tokyo
underground system and reports of the threatened use of
ricin (4, 5).
In December 2001, an expert consultation was convened
by WHO through the International Programme on Chemical
Safety (IPCS — a joint activity of WHO, the International
Labour Organization and the United Nations Environment
Programme). The participants concluded that there was a
need to strengthen both national and global chemical incident
preparedness and response through the development of an
early warning system and capacity strengthening (6). In May
2002, the World Health Assembly agreed a resolution urging
Member States to strengthen systems for surveillance, emergency
preparedness and response for the release of chemical
and biological agents and radionuclear materials (7).
Chemical incidents that lead to human exposure present an
important public health challenge both nationally and globally.
These incidents can range from an obvious chemical release,
e.g. a leak or spill, to a less immediately apparent event such as
contamination of a product.
The international community, through the World Health
Assembly, has recognized the need to strengthen surveillance
for chemical incidents. There are three main reasons for doing
this. First, the continuing rapid growth and globalization
of the chemicals industry means that chemical incidents will
continue to be a problem. Second, chemical incidents may have
an impact beyond their original location, in some cases crossing
national borders. For example, in north-west Romania cyanide
was released from a gold mine into the local river system, leading
to fish deaths in three countries (1). The global sale of a
brand of dialysis filters contaminated with perfluoroisobutylene
is another example. This led to deaths in Colombia, Croatia,
Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United States of America, before
the problem was discovered (2, 3). Third, there is concern regarding
the deliberate use of chemicals for terrorist purposes,
engendered by events such as the use of sarin on the Tokyo
underground system and reports of the threatened use of
ricin (4, 5).
In December 2001, an expert consultation was convened
by WHO through the International Programme on Chemical
Safety (IPCS — a joint activity of WHO, the International
Labour Organization and the United Nations Environment
Programme). The participants concluded that there was a
need to strengthen both national and global chemical incident
preparedness and response through the development of an
early warning system and capacity strengthening (6). In May
2002, the World Health Assembly agreed a resolution urging
Member States to strengthen systems for surveillance, emergency
preparedness and response for the release of chemical
and biological agents and radionuclear materials (7).
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