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.

The OECD releases a Guidance on Change of Ownership in Hazardous Facilities. This Guidance is a concise document providing a framework to assist stakeholders to identify, understand and minimise the risks during and after a change of ownership at a hazardous facility, and help make the change of ownership a better informed process.

The OECD Conference on Genome Editing: Applications in Agriculture – Implications for Health, Environment and Regulation will explore the regulatory considerations raised by genome edited products, with the aim to favour a coherent policy approach to facilitate innovation involving genome editing. More information on the programme and the speakers.

GIVIMP aims to reduce the uncertainties in cell and tissue-based in vitro method derived predictions by applying good scientific, technical and quality practices from method development to implementation for regulatory use. Test method developers and test guideline users will find best practices for designing guideline in vitro methods, carrying out safety tests and assuring quality and scientific integrity of the resulting data

This guidance document was originally published in 2012 and updated in 2018 to reflect new and updated OECD test guidelines, as well as reflect on scientific advances in the use of test methods and assessment of the endocrine activity of chemicals. The document is intended to provide guidance for evaluating chemical using standardised test guidelines.

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.

On 6 November 2018, the OECD was awarded the Silver Award in the research category at the 2018 Global Chemical Leasing Award for its report on the Economic Features of Chemical Leasing.

This document aims to assist government and industry assessors involved in the registration of microbial pesticides in the determination of whether microbial pesticides could be associated with known or as yet uncharacterised ‘new’ secondary metabolites. A background document that was also published as Annex to the main document aims to provide clarity on issues and terminology related to microbial secondary metabolites.

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.

The OECD releases a video tutorial on how to find GHS information in eChemPortal through the substance search and how to search by GHS classification. Currently 11 databases provide GHS information, independent of whether the classifications have undergone a review by a regulatory body or intergovernmental organisation or are based on self-classifications by the producers or importers.

The first report is a synthesis from a Workshop on Approaches to Support Substitution and Alternatives Assessment, which discussed approaches used to support alternative assessments and substitution. The second report is a Cross Country Analysis of Approaches to Support Alternatives Assessment and Substitution of Chemicals of Concern that describes a list of approaches developed across countries and by different stakeholders.

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.

This report outlines the customisation opportunities for IUCLID version 6. It also gives an overview of what IUCLID offers to regulatory bodies and industry as a key application to record, store, maintain and exchange data on chemicals. IUCLID is used in a variety of countries and regulatory contexts, therefore the report describes to which extent it is customisable to facilitate the management of chemical data across these contexts.

On 11 February 2019, the OECD organised a webinar to learn and discuss new methodologies on liver models for induction, clearance and toxicity. The speakers presented the benefits compared to existing methods in place, the types of chemicals tested, the results obtained, the transferability and economic aspects for routine testing, and any known limitation to the technologies and their applications.

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.

Policy instruments can be applied to improve the sustainability of plastics, including regulations, market-based instruments, information and voluntary tools. The report reviews the use of these instruments, provides good practice examples, such as product taxes and charges, eco-design standards, extended producer responsibility and environmental product labels, as well as discussing opportunities for their future applications.

The purpose of this document is to give guidance to Receiving Authorities on the evaluation of the GLP compliance status of nonclinical safety studies submitted for regulatory purposes. This guidance does not address the scientific evaluation and interpretation of the submitted data or the risk assessment based on these data.

Latest releases: AOPs are the central element of a toxicological knowledge framework, promoted by member countries through OECD, built to support chemical risk assessment based on mechanistic reasoning. Seven New AOPs have now been published.

Two new cases have been published that focus on use of metabolism information to support read-across and use of a combination of novel methods to identify potential endocrine disruptors, respectively. In addition a considerations document includes lessons and learnings from analysis across case studies and an analysis of uncertainties in six read-across cases.

This report aims to enhance awareness for inclusion of children’s exposure in risk assessments when relevant and presents a children’s exposure decision tree that facilitates such decisions. The decision tree can be used to identify if a separate exposure assessment is needed with regard to children, and also aims to identify whether the exposure assessment conducted for adults already provides an acceptable level of safety of children.

On Thursday 26 September 2019, the OECD discussed "Finding Alternatives to Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances of Concern: A Difficult and Continuing Challenge" with the participation of W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. Presenters shared efforts, successes and challenges in eliminating per and polyfluorinated chemicals of environmental concern from the life cycle of consumer products.

On 27 September 2019, Anne Gourmelon of the Environment Directorate presented an overview of the various alternative test methods developed as OECD Test Guidelines and relevant guidance material to address eye irritation and serious eye damage for hazard classification of chemicals.

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.

This document is intended to provide universal Guiding Principles that should be considered when developing or augmenting systematic approaches to Weight of Evidence (WoE) for chemical evaluation and Key Elements to formulating a systematic approach to WoE. The ultimate goal is to facilitate that regulators follow a consistent, clear and transparent delivery of evidence using the Principles and Elements described in this document.

The Chemical Safety and Biosafety Progress Report is released every eight months. Its purpose is to provide an update on the projects, events and activities. Information on new publications as well as dates and venues of upcoming events and meetings are given.

Standard & Poor's credit rating for the United States stands at AA+ with stable outlook. Moody's credit rating for the United States was last set at Aaa with stable outlook. Fitch's credit rating for the United States was last reported at AAA with stable outlook. DBRS's credit rating for the United States is AAA with stable outlook. In general, a credit rating is used by sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and other investors to gauge the credit worthiness of the United States thus having a big impact on the country's borrowing costs. This page includes the government debt credit rating for the United States as reported by major credit rating agencies.

United States recorded 1347318 Coronavirus Cases since the epidemic began, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In addition, United States reported 78616 Coronavirus Deaths. This page includes a chart with historical data for the United States Coronavirus Cases.

United States recorded 80040 Coronavirus Deaths since the epidemic began, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In addition, United States reported 1347318 Coronavirus Cases. This page includes a chart with historical data for the United States Coronavirus Deaths.

United States recorded 238080 Coronavirus Recovered since the epidemic began, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In addition, United States reported 80040 Coronavirus Deaths. This page includes a chart with historical data for the United States Coronavirus Recovered.

Standard & Poor's credit rating for Turkey stands at B+ with stable outlook. Moody's credit rating for Turkey was last set at B1 with negative outlook. Fitch's credit rating for Turkey was last reported at BB- with stable outlook. DBRS's credit rating for Turkey is BB (high) with negative outlook. In general, a credit rating is used by sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and other investors to gauge the credit worthiness of Turkey thus having a big impact on the country's borrowing costs. This page includes the government debt credit rating for Turkey as reported by major credit rating agencies.

The ATX decreased 983 points or 30.44% since the beginning of 2020, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks this benchmark index from Austria. Historically, the Austria Stock Market (ATX) reached an all time high of 5010.93 in July of 2007. The Vienna Stock Exchange Index is a major stock market index which tracks the performance of all companies listed in Austria. It is a market capitalisation weighted price index. The WBI represents around 60% of Austrian stock trade. The index has a base value of EUR100 as of December 31, 1967.

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

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

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

Taipei’s MRT is the only underground railway where someone has offered to tie up my shoelace

Caricaturist James Gillray was arrested over a print showing politicians kissing a new royal baby’s backside

Participation in the arts has a hugely positive impact on people’s health and wellbeing

Perhaps a lot of rugby has always been prosaic but I struggle to recall such a dearth of poetry

The quiet streets have that special Viennese quality of grandeur combined with melancholy and nostalgia

It is that forging and tempering that makes the poet’s utterances strong and flexible

Isis could be seen as a vast and terrifying collective outbreak of the Freudian concept of ‘acting out’