Thousands of chemical safety documents are now available for free at one site on the Internet. This information is a useful tool for those concerned with chemical safety and the sound management of chemicals.

IPCS INCHEM directly responds to one of the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety (IFCS) priority actions to consolidate current, internationally peer-reviewed, chemical safety-related publications and database records from international bodies, for public access.

IPCS INCHEM is produced through cooperation between IPCS (a joint activity of the World Health Organization, the International Labour Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme) and the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS).

More chemical safety information from international bodies will be added progressively to the collection.

"IPCS aims to disseminate its chemical risk assessment and chemical risk management products as widely as possible, in support of the long-range objectives of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. Provision of the IPCS INCHEM database on the web free of charge to the end user is a very important step in that direction," said Dr Tim Meredith, Coordinator for the International Programme on Chemical Safety at the World Health Organization.

Offering this service without charge allows individuals, especially those from developing countries or those working in organizations with limited resources, and even the general public, access to a vast amount of chemical safety information.

"This endeavour will ensure the continued quality, integrity, upgrading and further expansion of the programme for all people throughout the world," stated Len Hong, CCOHS’s President and Chief Executive Officer. "It is our ongoing vision to make global chemical safety a reality," he added.

The IPCS INCHEM Programme was developed in 1997 as a co-operative undertaking between IPCS and CCOHS. The IPCS INCHEM Programme is based at CCOHS, Canada's national agency dedicated to eradicating workplace illness and injuries and creating a safe and healthy working environment for everyone.

1) The vast IPCS INCHEM collection currently includes Environmental Health Criteria (EHC) monographs, Concise International Chemical Assessment Document (CICADS), Health and Safety Guides (HSGs), International Chemical Safety Cards (ICSCs), IPCS/EC Evaluation of Antidotes Series, JECFA (Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives) monographs and evaluations, JMPR (Joint Meeting on Pesticide Residues) monographs and evaluations, Pesticide Data Sheets (PDSs), Poisons Information Monographs (PIMs), Screening Information Data Set (SIDS) for High Production Volume Chemicals, CIS Chemical Information (ILO/CIS) and International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Summaries and Evaluations.

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