Work in OECD on chemical safety: approaches for human risk assessment.

Our society’s dependence on chemicals is a comparatively recent phenomenon. The chemical industry today is a US$1.55 trillion global industry, nearly four times as big as it was just 30 years ago. World-wide, the industry employs some 12 million people. The chemical industry in OECD Member countries accounts for 76 per cent of world-wide production. Chemicals and related products represent 14 per cent of total imports and exports of manufactured goods for OECD countries, and they make up 12 per cent of Gross Domestic Product for some countries. The rapid growth of the chemical industry, which includes pharmaceuticals, pesticides and industrial chemicals, has also played a central role in the evolution of OECD countries’ environmental protection policies. The fast-paced expansion of the chemical industry has brought with it the possibility of the escalation of risks, endangering both human health and the environment. Maximising safety and minimising risk are therefore important aims for sustainable development for both governments and the chemical industry world-wide. The OECD has taken the lead in assisting countries in the development and co-ordination of chemical safety activities on an international basis. The forum provided by OECD enables countries to work together to discuss policies, clarify issues and protect the well-being of man and the environment, while giving due consideration to economic and trade concerns in its search for solutions. The chemical industry is now in a period of strong globalisation, and the manufacture and the use of chemicals is expanding rapidly outside the OECD. Increased trade liberalisations within the framework of the World Trade Organisation and regional agreements will undoubtedly lead to further growth in the trade of chemicals. Now that tariffs are going down across the globe, non-tariff barriers become the main impediments to trade. The chemical industry, which includes many multinational companies, recognises the considerable benefits derived from the OECD-wide harmonization and it appreciates the cost-savings resulting from the limitation of non-tariff barriers to trade and avoidance of duplicative testing. The many practical products of OECD’s work (such as the Mutual Acceptance of Data Scheme based on Council Decisions related to Test Guidelines and Good Laboratory Practice) support governments to develop their national programmes and to make the most efficient use of national resources by sharing the burden of work internationally. Many non-member countries which are in the process of developing regulatory structures look to the OECD policies and instruments as models and benefit from using the work of the Chemicals Programme.