3 UN agencies team up to offer free internet access to chemical safety documents

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) today announced that thousands of chemical safety documents are now available free on the Internet - a development which will help countries to fulfil UN environment goals.

According to WHO, the website of the International Programme on Chemical Safety (www.inchem.org) now offers easy access to thousands of searchable full-text documents from international bodies on chemical risks and chemical risk management. This service will assist countries in fulfilling the commitments they made at the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) towards the environmentally sound management of chemicals.

The International Programme on Chemical Safety brings together three UN agencies in an effort "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," said Dr. Tim Meredith, WHO's Coordinator for the International Programme on Chemical Safety.

The Programme is a joint activity of WHO, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).