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Subject: [DCHAS-L] CHAS Tweets and Chemical Safety headlines (11 articles)
Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2013 07:39:00 -0500
Author: Secretary ACS DCHAS 		Next by Date:
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] GHS Busters
Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2013 10:31:07 -0500
Author: Russ Phifer

(Note: This post is 12 years old and may contain outdated information.)

From: Michelle Sullivan <Sulliva1**At_Symbol_Here**AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] GHS Busters
Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2013 08:31:06 -0500
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: 74641.772d4d08.3fc0b69a**At_Symbol_Here**aol.com


The lists that are in the Chemwatch article are government lists of chemical classifications/hazards from the Japanese, New Zealand and South Korean governments.
 
There is another study done by the UN GHS secretariat. They compared the transportation hazards to the EU CLP/GHS hazards, "GHS classification of dangerous goods most commonly carried: comparison between transport classification and EU CLP Regulation". This paper which is posted on the UN GHS website shows a similar lack of harmonized hazard classifications.
http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/trans/doc/2010/ac10c4/UN-SCEGHS-19-INF07.pdf
 
 
The EU ECHA Classification and Labeling Inventory that records industry GHS hazards also shows the lack of harmonization. For example there are 69 entries for acetone and 119 for toluene.
http://echa.europa.eu/information-on-chemicals/cl-inventory;jsessionid=6D9AA99CC719B6A719853538A67D45E1.live1
 
 
However, the UN GHS subcommittee is aware of this lack of harmonization. They are looking at approaches to developing a global list that would have harmonized hazard classifications for chemicals.The USA government is chairing the UN working group looking at developing this globally harmonized list of chemicals classified according to the GHS. 
 
 
 
____________________________
Michele R. Sullivan, Ph.D.
MRS Associates
Sulliva1**At_Symbol_Here**aol.com
 
 
a message dated 11/21/2013 1:11:56 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, rstuart**At_Symbol_Here**CORNELL.EDU writes:
I noticed an interesting article at
https://www.swiftpage6.com/speasapage.aspx?X=2Y0RSDXNI9G1KQ0R00YEWW
about the challenge of GHS:

What does GHS stand for?

The Excercise
Chemwatch have undertaken a systematic comparison of GHS classification published by official sources in:

Europe (ECHA)
Japan (NITE)
New Zealand (CCID)
Korea (NIER)
A total of 12,452 Substances were reviewed.

Interestingly there was very little overlap between Substances reviewed by any two Jurisdictions - Korea and New Zealand reviewed 1494 Substances in common.

However, where Substances in common where assigned GHS Classifications, fewer than 8% were in agreement - New Zealand and the European Union agreed on only 75 Substances of 939 Substances.

In summary:

< 8%  Harmonisation between any 2 Jurisdictions
< 0.6% Harmonisation between any 3 Jurisdictions
===
I'm not quite sure of what to make of this data. I wonder if anyone on the list has done international comparisons that include the US?

- Ralph

Ralph Stuart CIH
Chemical Hygiene Officer
Department of Environmental Health and Safety
Cornell University

rstuart**At_Symbol_Here**cornell.edu
 
 

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