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WHO Regional Workshop on Chemical Safety
24 - 26th June 2013
The International Workshop to Strengthen Capacities for Sound Chemicals Management in South-East Asia Region
All Headlines
2526. October 22, 2014 | Nature World News
Killer pesticides not effective, says EPA
Remember those dangerous neonicotinoid pesticides that experts are blaming for the tragic mass death of our pollinators? It turns out that they aren't even all that good at their job, leaving coated crops no better off than if they were left untreated. That's according to a new report released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2527. October 18, 2014 | Science News
Thirdhand smoke poses lingering danger
Coffee’s caffeine jolt evolved independently from that of tea and chocolate, a genetic analysis of the popular bean reveals. Researchers deciphered the genome of Coffea canephora, the second-most cultivated species of coffee and a parent of C. arabica, the source of the world’s best-selling cup of joe. Within C. canephora’s 11 chromosome pairs, the team found many duplicated genes, including ones that produce caffeine. Such duplications may let organisms make more of those genes’ products and evolve new or better-functioning proteins. 2528. October 14, 2014 | Washington Post
Hazardous chemicals in your pizza box?
Petition asks FDA to ban them. U.S. manufacturers stopped using a hazardous chemical in pizza boxes and other food wrappers three years ago — but it may still be seeping into your takeout food because foreign companies can still use perchlorate and perfluorocarboxylates (PFCs) in paper products imported into the United States. 2529. October 14, 2014 | Environmental Health News
BPA in the air: Manufacturing plants in Ohio, Indiana, Texas are top emitters
As concerns mount over people’s exposure to the plasticizer bisphenol A in everyday products, it’s also contaminating the air near manufacturing plants: U.S. companies emitted about 26 tons of the hormone-disrupting compound in 2013. 2530. October 8, 2014 | Canadian Press
Neonicotinoid pesticides linked to bee deaths are 'biggest threat' to ecosystem, Ontario watchdog says.
The widespread use of neonicotinoid pesticides by Ontario farmers, which has been linked to the deaths of bees, could have a "massive impact" on our ecological system, the province's environment watchdog warned. 2531. October 6, 2014 | Environmental Health News
Pesticide use by farmers linked to high rates of depression, suicides
Depression is the most common mental disability in the United States. About 7 percent of U.S. adults annually experience at least one two-week or longer stretch of depression, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. There is no national data on whether farmers and their workers are more prone to depression. 2532. September 25, 2014 | UNEP Press Release
The Minamata Convention on Mercury: Towards Its Early Entry Into Force and Effective Implementation
An additional 18 countries sign the Minamata Convention at a high-level event during the opening of the sixty-ninth session of the United Nations General Assembly. 2533. September 16, 2014 | The Guardian
Why banning dangerous chemicals is not enough
The growth in chemical production in the past 40 years has been nothing short of explosive, with global output of $171bn in 1970 (pdf) burgeoning to more than $4tn in 2010 (an increase of more than 2,000%). By 2050, the market is expected to expand further to more than $14tn (an increase of more than 250% from 2010), with the BRICS countries dominating and accounting for more than $6tn together ($4tn for China alone). 2534. August 29, 2014 | Natural News
Glyphosate - The silent danger causing lead poisoning in pregnant women
The fight taking place doesn't always involve guns on the battlefield. Sometimes the battlefield is something quiet and innocent like a field of crops. The gun is sometimes the chemical pesticides and herbicides soaking into the plants, loading up in the soil. The pesticides and herbicides fire back silently through the water, bonding to heavy metals like lead in the process, while transporting the toxins more readily into the blood of humans. 2535. August 27, 2014 | WHO Media Centre
WHO calls for stronger action on climate-related health risks
Previously unrecognized health benefits could be realized from fast action to reduce climate change and its consequences. For example, changes in energy and transport policies could save millions of lives annually from diseases caused by high levels of air pollution. The right energy and transport policies could also reduce the burden of disease associated with physical inactivity and traffic injury. 2536. August 14, 2014 | Scientific American News
Disinfectant causes reproductive problems in mice
Mice exposed to disinfectants in commercial-grade cleaning products took longer to get pregnant, had fewer pups and suffered more miscarriages and distressed fetuses. 2537. August 11, 2014 | EPA Pesticide News
Agreement to cancel methomyl use on some crops
EPA and the manufacturers of the insecticide methomyl have agreed to cancel the use of methomyl on barley, oat, and rye, limit its use on wheat to Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, and reduce the application rates and the number of applications for some crops by 20-50%. These actions are in response to EPA’s evaluation of data showing risk from methomyl in drinking water. EPA is taking this action to protect human health and the environment. 2538. July 24, 2014 | Newsweek
Exposure to pesticides when pregnant linked to 3 generations of disease
In the post-Silent Spring 1960s, when the pesticide DDT was discovered to be toxic to humans and wildlife and to persist for years in the environment, farmers and landscapers turned enthusiastically to Methoxychlor. The pesticide—also commercially known as Chemform, Methoxo, Metox or Moxie—had a much shorter half-life and was billed as the safe alternative to DDT. Now, new research argues that exposure to the pesticide could cause diseases three generations later, in offspring who were never exposed to the Methoxychlor themselves. 2539. July 1, 2014 | Natural News
Environmental impacts of neonicotinoid pesticides are now 'impossible to deny
Evidence that neonicotinoid pesticides are doing severe damage to ecological integrity and bee populations around the world is now "conclusive," according to a review conducted by an international scientific task force. 2540. June 28, 2014 | Science News
Health risks of e-cigarettes emerge
Electronic cigarettes, marketed as safer than regular cigarettes, deliver a cocktail of toxic chemicals including carcinogens into the lungs, new studies show. Using e-cigarettes may even make bacterial infections resistant to antibiotics, according to one study. 2541. June 23, 2014 | Newsweek
Autism risk much higher for children of pregnant women living near agricultural pesticide areas
Pregnant women who live near agricultural land where pesticides are applied have a 60 percent higher risk of giving birth to children with autism or other developmental delays. 2542. June 11, 2014 | NBC News (New York)
Banned Pesticides, Toxic Metals Found Near Long Island Homes for Veterans, USA
Authorities probing several toxic material dump sites on Long Island said Tuesday that soil samples at a row of newly built homes for war veterans were contaminated with banned pesticides, hazardous metals and petroleum byproducts. The homes, on Veterans Way in Islandia, initially tested negative for asbestos, but Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said a new round of tests came back positive for the pesticides DDT and chlordane, petroleum byproducts and above-average levels several metals including cobalt, zinc, iron and lead. 2543. June 10, 2014 | Scientific American News
Children and pregnant women should eat more fish
Federal officials on Tuesday announced major changes in advice to pregnant and breastfeeding women by recommending consumption of at least 8 ounces of low-mercury fish per week. 2544. June 10, 2014 | EnvironmentalHealthNews.org
Infants exposed to 'potentially harmful' chemicals in vinyl
Most babies born prematurely and one-third of full-term infants are exposed to chemicals found in vinyl “at a potentially harmful level,” according to new research in Finland. The study of 125 babies from the day they were born to 14 months old is the first comprehensive examination of infants’ exposure to several phthalates. The chemicals, considered hormone disruptors, have been linked to health effects in animal tests and some human studies, including altered male genitalia, attention and learning problems and asthma. The sources of the phthalates in the babies are unknown. But some researchers suspect that they came from hospital equipment or household materials. 2545. June 10, 2014 | EnvironmentalHealthNews.org
US FDA, EPA advise pregnant women, children to eat more low-mercury fish
Federal officials on Tuesday announced major changes in advice to pregnant and breastfeeding women by recommending consumption of at least 8 ounces of low-mercury fish per week. It is the first time that the Environmental Protection Agency and Food and Drug Administration have issued recommendations on the minimum amount of fish that pregnant women and children should eat. The previous advisory, issued in 2004, included only maximum amounts to protect their fetuses and young children from mercury, which can harm developing brains and reduce IQs. 2546. June 8, 2014 | BBC News
Air pollution needs more monitoring, says UK trade union
Councils must work to improve the monitoring of urban air quality after research suggested some UK workers were being exposed to "dangerous" pollution levels. Street cleaners and parking staff were among those most at risk. 2547. June 5, 2014 | Asia News Network
China's big cities struggle to meet pollution standards
Most major Chinese cities continue to suffer heavy air pollution, but cleanup efforts are showing signs of progress, the country's environmental watchdog said on Wednesday. Only 3 out of 74 cities that adopted revised air quality standards made the mark last year, Li Ganjie, vice-minister of environmental protection, said during the release of the 2013 Report on the State of the Environment in China. The measurements are based on the intensity of pollution factors like sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, PM10, PM2.5, carbon monoxide and ozone. 2548. June 5, 2014 | UNEP News Centre
Sea-Level Rise in Small Island Nations - Up to Four Times the Global Average
Climate change-induced sea-level rise in the world's 52 small island nations - estimated to be up to four times the global average - continues to be the most pressing threat to their environment and socio-economic development with annual losses at the trillions of dollars due to increased vulnerability. An immediate shift in policies and investment towards renewable energy and green economic growth is required to avoid exacerbating these impacts, says a new report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). 2549. June 4, 2014 | BBC News
Pollution link to irregular heartbeat and lung clotting
Air pollution is linked to increased risk of developing an irregular heartbeat and blood clots in the lung, research suggests. The impact of air pollution on the risk of heart attack and stroke is less clear, say UK experts. Analysis of data from England and Wales shows air pollution is particularly harmful in the elderly. 2550. June 4, 2014 | EnvironmentalHealthNews.org
Moms' lead exposure could affect newborns' brains
Pregnant women exposed to lead had newborns who scored slightly lower on tests measuring reflexes and other skills tied to brain development, according to a new study from China. Scientists already have documented that low levels of lead can reduce children’s IQs and cause other neurological effects. But the new study is one of few to find that babies in the womb also could be affected, especially if exposed during the first trimester.
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