IPEN

On November 25th, Centre de Recherche et d’Education pour le Développement / Research and Education Centre for Development (CREPD), IPEN’s Regional Hub for Francophone Africa, held a stakeholders workshop in Yaoundé, Cameroon and publicly released their new paint analyses results. The paints had been tested for levels of lead content. Representatives from industry, government ministries, pediatricians, academia from the faculty of medicine, UNIDO (the United Nations Industrial Development Organization), NGOs, and the media attended the workshop.

Chemical Watch Briefing
Global chemical safety – less talk, more implementation
Joe DiGangi, senior science and technical advisor, IPEN

Each year, hundreds of millions of factory and farm workers are injured by accidents, pesticides and industrial chemical exposures – a subset of an even larger population of people exposed to, and affected by, harmful chemicals.

One international agreement that should address the multitude of chemical safety struggles around the world is the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (Saicm). But there is a long way to go to fulfil Saicm’s chemical safety mission.

Fernando Bejarano, Director of RAPAM, IPEN’s Regional Hub for Latin America and the Caribbean, participated in a workshop on “Minamata Convention, challenges and opportunities in Colombia” that was held in Bogota, Colombia in mid-November. The workshop was organized by the University of Los Andes Group on Environmental Law, the Colombian Environment and Foreign Officers Ministries, and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), with sponsorship from the Swiss government.

IPEN and representatives from numerous Participating Organizations have recently organized and/or participated in two important meetings relating to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs): the "1st African Conference on the Health Effects of Endocrine Disruptors - Challenges and Opportunities" (which took place in Skukuza, South Africa, from 2 – 6 November), and an "NGO meeting on European Policy on EDCs" (which took place in Brussels, Belgium, on 11 and 12 November).