Australia IMAP Lists 3000 "Stage One" Chemicals for Assessment

The Australian chemicals agency, which goes by NICNAS, has announced that it will implement its new Inventory Multi-tiered Assessment and Prioritisation (IMAP) framework "in a staged manner." Beginning July 2012, "NICNAS will begin assessing around 3,000 existing chemicals," which are now designated “Stage One chemicals.”

The characteristics used to identify "stage one" chemicals are listed in the table on the NICNAS site and include a) chemicals for which NICNAS holds exposure data, b) chemicals identified as
a concern or for which action has been taken overseas, and c) chemicals detected in international studies analysing chemicals present in the blood in babies’ umbilical cords.

NICNAS has set up an online searchable database for anyone wishing to find out which chemicals are included in Stage One.

Factsheets on the program can be found here.

European and Australian Chemical Agencies Agree to Cooperate on Chemical Safety

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and the Australian Government's National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme (NICNAS), have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to "enhance co-operation" in an effort to "improve chemical safety."  The MOU will allow the two agencies to share expertise on technical matters on, among other things, "the hazards and emerging risks of chemical substances, risk management tools, scientific collaboration and information exchange."

This isn't the first cooperative arrangement for ECHA.   They signed a "statement of intent" with the USEPA last December in which the two agencies agreed to "share data, cooperate with each other on chemical reviews, and even exchange staff."

According to ECHA:

One of the anticipated areas of collaboration will be exchange of information. For example, the Memorandum of Understanding will promote the exchange of non-confidential information on hazards, uses and identity of chemical substances between ECHA and NICNAS. The agencies will also be sharing information on ways to more efficiently address chemicals of concern.

The full MOU can be downloaded as a PDF file here.