WHO Human Health Risk Assessment Toolkit: Chemical Hazards, second edition

Overview

The purpose of the WHO human health risk assessment toolkit: chemical hazards is to provide its users with guidance to identify, acquire and use the information needed to assess chemical hazards, exposures and the corresponding health risks in their given health risk assessment contexts at local and/or national levels.

The Toolkit provides road maps for conducting a human health risk assessment, identifies information that must be gathered to complete an assessment and provides electronic links to international resources from which the user can obtain information and methods essential for conducting the human health risk assessment. By doing so, the Toolkit also aims to raise awareness and promote the use of globally accepted risk assessment information that has been developed by international organizations such as WHO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations Environment Programme, the Codex Alimentarius Commission and OECD for use in countries.

The Toolkit has been developed for public health and environmental professionals, regulators, industrial managers and other decision-makers with at least some training in the principles of risk assessment who are responsible for conducting human health risk assessments and making decisions on whether to take action to manage human health risks associated with exposure to chemicals.

Since the publication of the first edition in 2010 there have been a number of new developments in chemical risk assessment methodologies, new tools and new WHO publications. This revised edition of the Toolkit is intended to incorporate information about these new developments in methodologies, and to keep references and links to the information sources up to date.

WHO continues to hope that the Toolkit will have wide application, especially in developing countries and countries with economies in transition. It is hoped that, in all countries, the identification of human health risks related to chemicals as well as related management decisions and mitigation measures, including those related to international agreements, will be based on best evidence through the application of best risk assessment methodology and use of available authoritative risk assessment information developed by international organizations in combination with locally relevant information.