Bio: Dr. Virunya Bhat is a Technical Officer in the Chemical Safety and Health Unit at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. She coordinates WHO’s activities related to chemicals, waste, and pollution, including capacity building to the health sector, governments, and countries. She serves as Secretariat for the WHO Global Chemicals and Health Network, the WHO Chemical Risk Assessment Network, the International Programme on Chemical Safety, and the Inter-Organization Programme for the Sound Management of Chemicals (IOMC) Toolbox for decision-making in chemicals management. She has a PhD in environmental toxicology from the United States and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology and a Fellow of the Academy of Toxicological Sciences.

Abstract: The WHO Chemical Risk Assessment Network is developing and piloting a decision-making framework to help strengthen country capacity and infrastructure to identify, prioritize, and evaluate their national chemical inventories for potential toxicity and risks to human health. This talk will introduce the tiered framework and illustrate how it promotes existing tools and international mechanisms for chemicals management, in user-friendly and readily accessible formats, which also promotes harmonization and reduces duplication of efforts. Tier 1 helps governments identify hazardous chemicals manufactured, imported, used, or disposed of in their country that are subject to multilateral environmental agreements and conventions (e.g. Basel, Rotterdam, Stockholm, Minamata). Subsequent tiers of the framework help governments identify chemicals in their country that are named on other authoritative lists of hazardous chemicals. The framework includes guidance on how to determine usage patterns and volumes and use this information in a weighting scheme to help develop national priorities that may include developing a National Registry of hazardous chemicals that require special attention, such as proper handling, storage, and disposal to minimize health risks. Prioritization frameworks based on health risks enable more cost-effective risk management and protection of public health.