GEF Guidance on Emerging Chemicals Management Issues in Developing Countries and Countries with Economies in Transition

Abstract

This report was predicated by GEF programmatic mandate on the promotion of sound chemicals management, as well as observations on the global chemicals landscape that alert us to the enormity of the challenge of sounds chemical management. The Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) states that there are 60 million registered organic and inorganic substances in the world. Of that, only a fraction have been tested and inventoried by chemicals oversight bodies. For example, the USEPA maintains an inventory of approximately 84,000 commercially important chemicals; and of those, a smaller fraction still have been tested for their toxicity, including the vast majority of those categorized as "high volume".