Within the OECD Cooperative Chemicals Assessment Programme, sponsors (countries or companies) assess and review industrial chemicals, which can include high production volume (HPV) or non-HPV, existing or new chemicals.
When evaluating an HPV chemical, the OECD List of HPV Chemicals serves as the overall priority list from which the HPV chemicals are selected for initial hazard assessment. The list is compiled by the Secretariat on the basis of regular submissions by member countries reporting those industrial chemicals for which a Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) Registry Number had been assigned and which are produced or imported at levels greater than 1000 tonnes per year. The most recent OECD HPV Chemicals List is that compiled in 2007, which contains 4636 substances and is based on submissions of eight national inventories and that of the European Union. The next List will be compiled in 2012. A country or company can view a complete list of chemicals that are not yet sponsored through the Existing Chemicals Database.
Any number of other chemicals can also be assessed at OECD. The choice is made based on whether a country has a particular interest in a chemical or group of chemicals. Reasons for choosing chemicals could include those with identified hazards that might be significant in relation to subsequent risk assessment or risk management or to disseminate agreed hazard characterizations for specific endpoints that were not previously public.
The principal uses of the industrial chemicals assessed in the Programme generally DO NOT include the following:
However, some assessments may include these types of chemicals/uses, usually as one of the minor applications among a longer list of uses.
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