Conflicts of Interest in the Assessment of Chemicals, Waste, and Pollution.

Pollution by chemicals and waste impacts human and ecosystem health on regional, national, and global scales, resulting, together with climate change and biodiversity loss, in a triple planetary crisis. Consequently, in 2022, countries agreed to establish an intergovernmental science-policy panel (SPP) on chemicals, waste, and pollution prevention, complementary to the existing intergovernmental science-policy bodies on climate change and biodiversity. To ensure the SPP's success, it is imperative to protect it from conflicts of interest (COI). Here, we (i) define and review the implications of COI, and its relevance for the management of chemicals, waste, and pollution; (ii) summarize established tactics to manufacture doubt in favor of vested interests, i.e., to counter scientific evidence and/or to promote misleading narratives favorable to financial interests; and (iii) illustrate these with selected examples. This analysis leads to a review of arguments for and against chemical industry representation in the SPP's work. We further (iv) rebut an assertion voiced by some that the chemical industry should be directly involved in the panel's work because it possesses data on chemicals essential for the panel's activities. Finally, (v) we present steps that should be taken to prevent the detrimental impacts of COI in the work of the SPP. In particular, we propose to include an independent auditor's role in the SPP to ensure that participation and processes follow clear COI rules. Among others, the auditor should evaluate the content of the assessments produced to ensure unbiased representation of information that underpins the SPP's activities.

Zürich II Statement on Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs): Scientific and Regulatory Needs.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are a class of synthetic organic chemicals of global concern. A group of 36 scientists and regulators from 18 countries held a hybrid workshop in 2022 in Zürich, Switzerland. The workshop, a sequel to a previous Zürich workshop held in 2017, deliberated on progress in the last five years and discussed further needs for cooperative scientific research and regulatory action on PFASs. This review reflects discussion and insights gained during and after this workshop and summarizes key signs of progress in science and policy, ongoing critical issues to be addressed, and possible ways forward. Some key take home messages include: 1) understanding of human health effects continues to develop dramatically, 2) regulatory guidelines continue to drop, 3) better understanding of emissions and contamination levels is needed in more parts of the world, 4) analytical methods, while improving, still only cover around 50 PFASs, and 5) discussions of how to group PFASs for regulation (including subgroupings) have gathered momentum with several jurisdictions proposing restricting a large proportion of PFAS uses. It was concluded that more multi-group exchanges are needed in the future and that there should be a greater diversity of participants at future workshops.

Management of polychlorinated biphenyls stockpiles and contaminated sites in Africa: A review of 34 countries.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are industrial chemicals that are designated as persistent organic pollutants. They were used for the production of multifarious products but their manufacture, and uses were banned under the Stockholm convention which took effect in 2004. The parties to the convention had prepared national implementation plans (NIPs) detailing management measures for persistent organic pollutants including PCBs. In the current review, the NIPs of 34 African countries were reviewed to assess the size of PCBs stockpiles, their storage conditions, and the management of PCBs contaminated sites. The results showed that each of the African countries examined, except Egypt, has stored PCBs stockpiles in open fields. There are several PCBs contaminated sites scattered across African countries with Malawi having the largest number of contaminated sites, 211 as of 2005. Many of these sites are not well managed and there are only few monitoring activities of the levels of PCBs. Thus, strict implementation of the Stockholm Convention and the NIPs to reduce the PCBs stockpiles size, and appropriate management of PCBs are required in Africa.

Assessment of Perceptions and Cancer Risks of Workers at a Polychlorinated Biphenyl-Contaminated Hotspot in Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are synthetic and persistent toxic chemicals with a high potential to bioaccumulate in human tissue. There is no existing literature on workers' perceptions and occupational cancer risk due to exposure to PCBs in Ethiopia. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to assess workers' perceptions of occupational health and safety measures of PCB management and to evaluate the cancer risk posed by PCBs to workers handling these chemicals in Ethiopia. METHODS: A total of 264 questionnaires were administered to workers at the study area to obtain information about PCB management. A mathematical model adopted from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) was used to assess the potential cancer risk of people working in PCB-contaminated areas. RESULTS: The results showed that the majority of the workers had little knowledge of safe PCB management practices. Furthermore, 82.6% had not received training on chemical management and occupational health and safety protocols. The association between respondents' responses on the impact of PCBs to the use of personal protective equipment was statistically significant (p <0.005). Accidental ingestion, dermal contact and inhalation exposure pathways were considered in assessing the cancer risk of people working in these areas. The estimated cancer risk for PCBs via dermal contact was higher than for the accidental ingestion and inhalation pathways. The health risk associated with dermal contact was 73.8-times higher than the inhalation exposure route. Workers at the oil tanker and oil barrel area and swampy site are at higher risk of cancer via dermal contact at the 95th centile (879 and 2316 workers per million due to PCB exposure, respectively). However, there is very low cancer risk at the staff residence and garden area via the inhalation route. CONCLUSIONS: Training programs would help improve the knowledge of workers in the area of occupational health and safety of chemical handling. Further studies on PCBs in the exposed workers will provide information on their blood sera PCB levels and consequently identify potential health impacts. PARTICIPANT CONSENT: Obtained. ETHICS APPROVAL: Ethics approval was obtained from the Research Ethics Review Committee of Adama Hospital Medical College, Adama, Ethiopia. COMPETING INTERESTS: The authors declare no competing financial interests.

The phase out of and restrictions on per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances: Time for a rethink.

Industrial manufacture boom in the past decades had resulted in the release of new chemicals to the environment. A group of manmade chemicals called per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are among these chemicals that have gained traction in recent years which are used in myriad consumer and industrial products worldwide. Since some PFASs are persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic in nature, series of programs and regulatory initiatives have been introduced to end their production; and gradually replacing them with short chain alternatives. However, concerns have been expressed in the scientific literature about the characteristics and effects of some of these short chain alternatives on environmental and living systems. Here, we suggest that professional scientific bodies should be part of the review process of alternatives short chain PFASs, owing to their immeasurable contribution to knowledge and understanding of these chemicals. Per and poly fluoroalkyl substances are understudied and poorly regulated in developing countries. Therefore, in order for these countries to contribute meaningfully to the global regulatory initiatives on PFASs, transfer of technology and capacity building must be explicitly considered, given the developed competencies, technical expertise and skills that are required for evidence-based policy development and implementation. Furthermore, the issue of transparency of the production and use of PFASs which some companies consider as confidential business information (CBI) must be closely paid attention to by regulators. Confidential business information if not properly addressed may undermine regulatory and risk reduction measures as it may limit most of the relevant information pertaining to PFASs.