Chemical Health Threats: Assessing and Alerting

Chemical health threats can have impacts across national borders and so may be more effectively tackled by international cooperation than by individual governments acting alone. As such, in November 2013, the European Union published the EU Decision for Serious Cross Border Threats to Health establishing a number of mechanisms for a coordinated, Europe-wide response with regards to preparedness, risk assessment, risk management, risk communication and international cooperation. Comprising a series of chapters from leading international researchers, this book covers recent developments in the field which support the implementation of these European legal instruments. It begins by contextualising the need for data that surveillance of toxic threats can deliver, before going on to examine some of the tools that have been developed to facilitate toxicosurveillance in Europe as well as current toxicosurveillance networks outside the EU. In addition, this book covers the European Union regulation concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), and the work of the Alerting System for Chemical Health Threats (ASHT) project to improve the risk assessment and management of chemical health threats in Europe. The volume provides a vital resource for researchers, educators, policy-makers and practitioners with an interest in key questions facing global hazardous substance control.

About the Author

Professor Raquel Duarte-Davidson is head of the International Research and Development (IRD) Group within the Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards at Public Health England. Many of their current projects are international collaborations with different public health bodies, universities and poisons centres across Europe. Projects relate to risk assessment, exposure assessment, developing alerting systems using poisons centres across Europe and developing guidance, protocols and training material on the management of chemical incidents. Professor Duarte-Davidson also holds a Visiting Professorship at Cranfield University.

Dr Rob Orford is a Principal Scientist within the IRD group. He is the technical lead for two EU co-funded R&D projects on cross border chemical health threats. The projects cover the European Union level response to serious cross border threats to health from chemicals which includes the development of toxicosurveillance approaches for chemical health threats.

Dr Stacey Wyke is also a Principal Scientist within the IRD group and is the technical lead for recovery and remediation of chemical incidents. She has led EU co-funded R&D projects on cross border chemical health threats and toxicosurveillance, has worked as a Poisons Specialist and is a registered Toxicologist.