WHO must be more involved in global chemicals framework, says NGO coalition

International NGO coalition, Ipen, is calling for the World Health Organization to be more involved in the UN’s global chemicals management programme after 2020. Joe DiGangi, senior science and technical adviser at the International Pollutants Elimination Network, told Chemical Watch that "governments need a positive example of how ministries or agencies with responsibilities for chemical safety can work together in a common mission to protect human health and the environment." The place to do that at the global level is within the UN's current programme, the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (Saicm), he said. In a resolution laying out how Saicm should be implemented, agreed by governments in Dubai in 2006, both Unep and the WHO were instructed to "take lead roles in the secretariat", with Unep taking "overall administrative responsibility".