Policymakers around the world are establishing legal frameworks to address the risks that chemicals pose to human health. The assessment of chemicals management options and environmental policies can be considerably improved through better estimation of their costs and benefits. However, the data required to quantify these benefits remain limited.
This report aims to support policymakers by providing economic valuation estimates assessing the benefits associated with avoiding ten health effects associated with chemicals exposure: IQ loss in children, chronic kidney disease, asthma in adults and children, infertility, very low birth weight, hypertension, hypothyroidism, non-fatal cancer, miscarriage and skin sensitisation.
It provides an overview of the Surveys on Willingness-to-pay to Avoid negative Chemicals-related Health Effects (SWACHE) project, which establishes internationally comparable valuations of morbidity using stated-preference studies. The project generates estimates of willingness to pay (WTP) and values of a statistical case (VSC), the latter representing the monetary value that a population assigns to avoiding one statistical case of a given health effect among its members.
This publication consolidates the OECD’s existing evidence on the economic benefits associated with reducing non-fatal chemicals-related health effects for 10 health effects across the 38 OECD Member countries and South Africa. The report is intended as an overview and provides non-technical, practical guidance on how economic valuation can be used to strengthen chemicals management systems and policies.