Chemical safety

Chemicals are essential for economic development and well-being; however, if managed in an unsound way, they can pose significant risks to human health.

The evidence is growing that hazardous chemicals contribute both to health disorders throughout the life-course and to the increased prevalence and incidence of noncommunicable diseases including cancer, urinary and reproductive system diseases, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, allergies, neurodevelopmental and congenital defects and endocrine disruption. People need to be protected from exposure to hazardous chemicals throughout the life-course, but the most effective and most needed protection is in the early stages of life.

WHO/Europe supports countries’ efforts within the frameworks of global and regional commitments to reduce and eliminate health risks from hazardous chemicals throughout the life-cycle.

The Ostrava Declaration, adopted by the Sixth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health in 2017, identified priority actions such as developing national policies and strategies, promoting exposure assessment and the use of human biomonitoring, ensuring capacities to respond to existing and new challenges, encouraging substitution of hazardous chemicals and improving information availability, and promoting research to better understand human exposure to chemicals and the associated burden of disease.