This new document is available as a tool for environmental safety assessment of new varieties of sugarcane derived from modern biotechnology. Given the large production of this crop worldwide, its biosafety will be an important issue for many countries.

This Bio-pesticides seminar report presents an overview of similarities and differences between species and strains within the Trichoderma genus. This fungus illustrates many general issues related to the use of micro-organisms for pest management.

This report describes an OECD seminar that brought together regulatory authorities, industry representatives and other stakeholders to discuss how to measure the uptake, adoption and implementation, as well as the impact, of Integrated Pest Management. Integrated Pest Management, a term used to describe strategies that promote the safer and more sustainable use of pesticides, is high on the agenda in many regions of the world.

This document provides information on the sources, use patterns, and potential release pathways of chemicals used in the manufacture of thermal and carbonless copy paper. It presents approaches for estimating the environmental releases of and occupational exposures to additives and components used in thermal and carbonless copy paper coatings.

A report of the 2013 joint OECD/Swedish Chemicals Agency/European Commission workshop on the assessment and management of risks of microbial pesticides that resulted in 20 recommendations for approaches that could be taken now and areas for follow-up work to be undertaken by OECD or Member countries.

The first version of the Globally Harmonised Submission and Transport Standard was published May 2014. The GHSTS is a standardised set of technical specifications used to assemble electronic files for any pesticide package in a predefined manner. Once the files are assembled according to the specifications, they can be transferred from a business entity to a regulatory authority and can be extracted for use in a regulatory process.

This document is a tool for environmental safety assessment of novel varieties of Cassava derived from modern biotechnology. Cassava is a key staple crop in Africa, Asia and Latin America, this document will be useful to many readers interested in biosafety issues.

This OECD monograph demonstrates how a chemical hazard assessment that considers and ranks all available relevant information - a so-called weight of evidence approach - can be constructed to conclude on a particular hazard endpoint for a chemical, in this case, skin sensitisation for 4-isopropylaniline.

This report includes the conclusions and recommendation of an expert workshop on Physical-Chemical Properties of Manufactured Nanomaterials and Test Guidelines organized by OECD’s Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials. The workshop addressed issues relevant to the physical-chemical properties of manufactured nanomaterials from a regulatory perspective point with a view to the need for new or adapted test guidelines.

This scoping document brings forward relevant in vitro and ex vivo thyroid assays to the attention of OECD member countries, and provide recommendations for their further development/use, and also, to identify aspects of the thyroid signalling pathway that are not covered and would require further attention

OECD has published a report of a survey that provides information and recommendations on how to deal with stocks of “obsolete” pesticides in OECD member (and partner) countries. Such pesticides’ obsolescence can arise for a number of reasons including product deterioration, product de-registration, and product revision.

The Joint Substance Data Pool of the German Federal Government and Federal States (GSBL) is now linked to eChemPortal. Records contain information on physical and chemical properties, on ecotoxicological and toxicological parameters and on environmental fate. They provide descriptions of environmental hazards, health dangers, fire and other technical hazards and give information on relevant chemicals-related legislation.

This publication is a tool for environmental safety assessment of EUCALYPTUS novel lines. Planted in the tropics and sub-tropics, E. species can be genetically-engineered for resistance to disease/drought/cold/salinity, or lower lignin content. Elements useful to biosafety evaluation are detailed, e.g. Eucalyptus taxonomy, origin, reproduction, genetics, hybridisation, ecology, allergens-toxins, beneficial chemical products, breeding.

This advisory document provides guidance on how pathology peer reviews should be planned, conducted and reported within the context of OECD Good Laboratory Practice.

On 26 September 2014, the OECD Council adopted three new, five updated and one corrected OECD Test Guidelines for the testing of chemicals.

The OECD has published a report on a pilot chemical classification exercise undertaken in 2013 and ‘14. Using a number of chemical assessments agreed in the OECD hazard assessment programme, reasons why classification proposals may differ were investigated. The report concludes on the main reasons for such differences, and recommends some measures to overcome some of them.

The OECD Advisory Group on Endocrine Disrupters Testing and Assessment met on 16-17 October 2014 in Paris to discuss the development and update of Test Guidelines and related documents for endocrine disrupters testing and assessment.

A cooperative global approach to the regulation of agricultural pesticides and sustainable pest management. Pesticides are widely used in agriculture and have considerable benefits by contributing to a sustainable production of food and feed. If used improperly or in an inappropriate manner, they also can present unacceptable risks to human and animal health and to the environment.

An addendum to the OECD Guiding Principles on Chemical Accident Prevention, Preparedness and Response to address Natural Hazards Triggering Technological Accidents (Natech) Risk Management has just been published. The addendum consists of a number of amendments to the Guiding Principles and the addition of a new Chapter to provide more detailed guidance on Natech prevention, preparedness and response.

Micro-organisms play a fundamental role in the environment. Yet their role is the result of complex biogeochemical processes by consortia of micro-organisms and the function of individual species is not clear in many cases. This publication provides an overview of the current situation and relevant developments in environmental microbiology.

The OECD has published guidance to facilitate the ecological risk assessment of organometallic and organic metal salt substances. A strategy is presented based on key steps that first consider the fate of these substances in the environment, the identification of moieties of concern, and subsequently the selection of an appropriate path forward to either assess the inorganic moiety and/or the individual substance.

The OECD eChemPortal, a web portal which offers comprehensive information on chemical substances, has been updated to offer better access to chemical classifications according to the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS).

The OECD/UNEP Global PFC group has published two new reports to support efforts in the framework of the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) to improve information sharing at a global level on perfluorinated chemistries.

This document provides background information on activities related to manufactured nanomaterials, as well as other activities on nanotechnologies at the international level. The information provided in this document captures OECD activities between February and December 2013.

This new document focuses on the evaluation of test methods applied to determine the physico-chemical properties of different types of nanomaterials.

France has improved its environmental performance over the last decade, lowering greenhouse gas emissions, reducing some air pollutants and cutting its use of fresh water. Further effort will be needed, however, to reduce pollution by nitrates and pesticides and meet ambitious renewable energy targets, according to a new OECD report.

This new council act recommends that Member countries take steps to establish, as appropriate, implement and make publicly available a pollutant release and transfer register (PRTR) system using the principles and information set forth in the OECD Guidance Documents on PRTRs.

The Decision-Recommendation on the Co-operative Investigation and Risk Reduction of Chemicals revises and replaces a 1991 Decision-Recommendation of the Council. The Decision-Recommendation is composed of two parts: Part A focuses on the development of harmonised hazard and exposure assessment methodologies for chemicals and Part B focuses on risk prevention and reduction.

Join us for our per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances webinar on Best Environmental Practices (BEP) for Textiles

This paper reviews and compares five case studies on quantification and economic valuation of benefits in cost-benefit analyses (CBAs) of regulating phthalates, mercury, PFOA (perfluoro-octanic acid) and its salts, NMP (1 methyl-2-pyrroloidine) and formaldehyde. The case studies had all been carried out as part of the SACAME project, and the purpose of the present paper is to draw out cross-cutting findings from these studies.

This document outlines various approaches and methodologies for the assessment of risks from combined exposures to multiple chemicals. The document draws from approaches and experience in the regulatory context, and presents elements to consider in the assessment.

New features of the QSAR Toolbox version 4.3 include: 2 New Databases, 5 New Profilers, 2D parameters, 159 new (Q)SAR models including pre-calculated online Danish QSAR DB models and new pKa models, Toolbox Application Program Interface (API) is now publicly available.

Today, OECD Council adopted the Recommendation on Countering the Illegal Trade of Pesticides to strengthen cooperation between countries and inspectors and identify illegal pesticides throughout their lifecycle with a Best Practice Guidance.

Nanomaterials have unique physical and chemical features. OECD's Decision Framework and Guiding Principles tools fill data gaps in the hazard characterisation by identifying the most useful parameters and best available methods for a given type of nanomaterial.

GHSTS is a standardised set of technical specifications for assembling electronic files for pesticide registration in a predefined manner. Once assembled according to the GHSTS, the dossier files can be transferred from a business to a regulatory authority and can be used in a regulatory process. Version 2.0 includes improved lifecycle management of documents over a series of submissions for one pesticide (or other) regulatory action.

A major fruit crop of temperate regions, APPLE is consumed worldwide as fresh fruit, juice and other food products. This consensus document provides science-based key insights for the regulatory assessment of the environmental safety of genetically-engineered products: taxonomy, reproductive biology, genetics, hybridisation and introgression, and ecology.

CEOs and corporate leaders on the lessons they have already learnt — and what happens next

Kew may be 70 times bigger than the Physic Garden, but historically Chelsea is the mother ship

Paris is organised around culture to a degree unimaginable in mercantile, muddled-up London

Victor Erice is one of those rare film directors who show time passing apparently at its own pace

Three recent decisions have brought this issue into focus – and all three are lamentable and incoherent

There are profound reasons for studying the languages, literature and civilisations of the Greeks and Romans

This is about reminding ourselves that we are animals, not adjuncts to computer terminals

Too many poets have turned inward, speaking to their fellows rather than to the wider world

Mussorgsky and Toulouse-Lautrec reached out to people treated as extras rather than full human subjects

Have we gone from protecting nature to managing it on behalf of the Earth’s dominant species?

‘There is a unique beauty to this time of year. Everything looks ghostly in the dense, opaque air’

Feelings of shame, unlike other emotions, are difficult to hide

The extraordinary thing about Roger Federer is that he still loves playing tennis after all these years

The story of Sisyphus compares quite well with the experience of zero-hours contracts