A two day workshop was convened 20-21 February 2019 to bring together institutions from developing and industrialized countries with expertise in and expert knowledge of methodologies and systems for the identification of emerging risks to human health from chemicals.
The workshop was hosted by RIVM at Bilthoven in the Netherlands, a Network Participant and WHO Collaborating Centre, and was attended by 48 participants from 32 countries. Two-thirds of the participants were from the WHO Chemical Risk Assessment Network and the remainder were from other institutions and systems with expertise relating to the identification of emerging risks from chemicals. Development of the workshop was assisted by an organizing committee of Network participants.
The workshop discussed a report of existing methodologies and systems, based on a literature review and the results of a stakeholder survey completed by 30 institutions from the WHO Chemical Risk Assessment Network or institutions involved with relevant networks or systems. The report was compiled by staff at Public Health England. The workshop was also informed by presentations about examples of existing systems, and by posters describing the work of each institution.
An operational definition of emerging risks from chemicals to inform future Network activities was discussed. Workshop participants also discussed how the Network could play a role in the identification of emerging risks in breakout group sessions. From these, possible follow up activities for the Network were identified, including sharing further information with the wider Network and training. These activities will be taken forward by a working group.
The report of this workshop will be shared with Network Participants when completed, and it is intended to publish some of the materials arising from this workshop.
The WHO Secretariat is grateful to RIVM for hosting the event, to the Ministry of Health of Germany for supporting the travel of a number of the participants, to NIEHS for making logistical support available through a contractor and to the organizing committee for their work in putting together this successful workshop.