1 eChemPortal: the Global Portal to Information on Chemical Substances

2 eChemPortal Public access to information on properties of chemicals: –Physical chemical properties –Environmental fate and behaviour –Ecotoxicity –Toxicity

3 eChemPortal From one internet location free of charge: –Identify existing and relevant databases, review documents and assessments and provide direct access to these data/reports –Simultaneously query datasets stored in these participating databases by chemical identity and properties and provide direct links to the requested information - users can then easily locate additional information about the selected chemicals

4 eChemPortal Provide information about the source of the retrieved data, and provide direct access to the data or document collection Provide description of the type of review the data have undergone

5 Staged Implementation First phase released during the second quarter of 2007: –Identify existing datasets by chemical identity, review documents and assessments and provide direct access to these data/reports Second phase to follow in 2008/2009: –Simultaneously query datasets stored in participating databases by chemical identity and properties

6 Background and Chronology of International Events eChemPortal is a significant step forward in meeting long standing international commitments to ensuring the generation and public availability of hazard data on chemicals

7 June 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development In June 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, UNCED, also known as the Earth Summit or the Rio Conference set the stage Agenda 21 is a 300 page plan for achieving sustainable development in the 21st century Chapter 19 addresses the Environmentally Sound Management of Toxic Chemicals Paragraph 4c covers “information exchange on toxic chemicals and chemical risks…..”

8 September 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development In September 2002 in Bangkok, Thailand, the WSSD provided a ten year review of Earth Summit progress The Johannesburg Plan of Implementation Paragraph 23f encouraged the “development of coherent and integrated information on chemicals…..”

9 October 2003 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development At the 12th meeting of the Task Force on Existing Chemicals in October 2003 in Paris, France, OECD charged a Steering Group with developing and implementing a proposal for a globally accessible international repository on hazard data for existing chemicals

10 November 2003 Fourth Session of the International Forum on Chemical Safety In November 2003 in Bangkok, Thailand, the IFCS Forum IV adopted, among other considerations, a priority for action: –For all chemicals in commerce, appropriate information detailing the inherent hazards should be made available to the public, and generated where needed –Essential health, safety and environmental information should be accessible

11 January 2004 OECD Global Portal Steering Group Under the leadership of the European Commission and the United States Comprising Canada, Japan, the OECD Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC), the International Programme for Chemical Safety (IPCS), United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) Chemicals and environmental NGOs (Environmental Defense) Developed a series of proposals on the design and governance of the Portal

12 February 2006 Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management In February, 2006 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM) adopted SAICM SAICM is a policy framework to international action on chemical hazards The Dubai Declaration on International Chemicals Management is one of three core texts comprising SAICM Paragraph 21. “Facilitate public access to appropriate information and knowledge of chemicals throughout their life cycle……”

13 eChemPortal: the Global Portal to Information on Chemical Substances is offered as a contribution to the SAICM

14 eChemPortal: Objectives To make information on properties of existing chemicals publicly available and free of charge To enable quick and efficient use of this information To enable efficient exchange of this information

15 eChemPortal: First Phase Hosted by the OECD Secretariat on the OECD website Search for information by CAS Registry Number, substance name or synonym in one or all participating databases Each link directs the user either to the home page of the database or collection of reports or directly to the corresponding report or dataset List of referenced chemicals is not limited to High Production Volume Chemicals

16 Participating Databases at start-up of the first phase

17 European Chemical Substances Information System (ESIS) Maintained by the European Commission ESIS is an IT system which provides information on chemicals related to: –EINECS (European Inventory of Existing Commercial Substances) –ELINCS (European List of Notified Chemical Substances) –List of EU HPVs (High Production Volume chemicals) and LPVs (Low Production Volume chemicals) including the EU Producers & Importers –Classification and Labelling (Directive 67/548/EEC) –IUCLID chemical datasets for ca. 2,500 HPVs (data on toxicity, ecotoxicity and classification and labelling) –EU Priority lists for risk assessment, Risk assessment process and tracking system for the Existing Substances Regulation (ESR), (Council Regulation (EEC) 793/93) and Risk assessment reports

18 High Production Volume Information System (HPVIS) Maintained by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Released in Spring, 2006 Public access to technical health and environmental effects information on chemicals submitted through the USEPA HPV Challenge Program Users search a database for existing data summary information, test plans, and new data on HPV chemicals as they are developed

19 Chemical Safety Information from Intergovernmental Organizations (INCHEM) Maintained by the International Programme for Chemical Safety (IPCS) in collaboration with the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) Public access to thousands of searchable full-text documents on chemical risks and the sound management of chemicals

20 Data that can be searched through INCHEM include: Concise International Chemical Assessment Document (CICADS) Environmental Health Criteria (EHC) monographs Health and Safety Guides (HSGs) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) - Summaries and Evaluations International Chemical Safety Cards (ICSCs) IPCS/CEC Evaluation of Antidotes Series Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) - Monographs and evaluations Joint Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR) - Monographs and evaluations Pesticide Data Sheets (PDSs) Poisons Information Monographs (PIMs) Screening Information Data Set (SIDS) for High Production Volume Chemicals

21 Chemical Risk Information Platform (CHRIP) Maintained by National Institute of Technology and Evaluation (NITE), Japan Information on Biodegradation and Bioconcentration, test conditions, conclusions Chemicals assessed under the Chemical Substances Control Law (Japan) Also access to other related information, e.g. phys-chem properties, aquatic toxicity, mammalian toxicity.

22 OECD High Production Volume (HPV) Database Maintained by the OECD Secretariat in collaboration with OECD member countries Provides information on the status of all HPV chemicals within the process of investigation in the OECD HPV Chemicals Programme Provides access to published OECD Initial Assessment Reports and Screening Information Data Sets (SIDS)

23 eChemPortal: Second Phase (1) The European Commission is currently conducted a feasibility study to identify the ideal hosting and maintenance option for the second phase of the Global Portal (e.g. at the European Chemicals Agency in Helsinki, Finland) The second phase of the portal will feature enhanced search and query options to retrieve and compile specific data from participating databases

24 eChemPortal: Second Phase (2) Central element around which Global Portal queries will be organized is the Global Portal Catalogue (GPC). This GPC will be populated from notifications sent by the participating Databases (“push” concept). These notifications will, for each new or updated relevant substance… –… contain “catalogue fields” (= queryable fields at the Global Portal; details are currently discussed in the GP Steering Group) –… follow the OECD Harmonized Templates Format (an XML Schema) No participation in the Global Portal without a firm commitment to send notifications (either ad hoc or in notification collections at certain intervals)

25 eChemPortal: Second Phase (3) Choice of technology used to (semi-)automatically extract GPC notifications from the local participating database remains with the participating DB The Global Portal Steering group recommends “web services” See next slide, in which all participating DBs have a web services “provider agent” installed, which sends GPC notifications automatically when relevant updates occur locally… (But participants are free to submit with other technology or manually (not recommended) )

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27 eChemPortal: Second Phase (4) Once the catalogue has reached a critical mass of relevant entries, the Global Portal (second phase) goes live. See next slide for a typical Global Portal Query: 1.From the Internet, a query arrives 2.The Global Portal processes the query by first running it against the GPC 3.The Query Result is presented to the user, who then decided whether to drill down to a specific query or not. This triggers a link to the local provider DB (and the local participating DB user interface is invoked)

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29 Roles and Responsibilities of Participating Databases Descriptions of the review the data have undergone (e.g., peer review by governmental authorities, other peer review, no peer review) will be provided by the participating databases Participating databases will be responsible for maintaining and updating links to information and responding to user inquiries and feedback

30 How to Participate Contact the OECD Secretariat for further information Proposals for linking new sources of data to eChemPortal can be made by any stakeholder represented at the OECD Joint Meeting of the Chemicals Committee and the Working Party on Chemicals, Pesticides and Biotechnology Decisions on proposed extensions will be taken by the OECD Task Force on Existing Chemicals

31 Outreach Campaign eChemPortal offers a unique opportunity to provide the public with access to information from one internet location Need to identify new users and target audiences to acquaint them with this website

32 Online Survey Users can provide insight on how the information available through the site may be useful to them Solicits users for input on how to design the portal to better meet their needs

33 eChemPortal Join the databases already participating in this global initiative to ensure convenient public access to critical health and safety information on chemicals in commerce