Industrial chemicals are chemicals that are developed for use in the industrial processing of some products. Some industrial chemicals are only used in industrial production processes while many others are used as ingredients in the commercial products that appear in consumer markets.
The class of industrial chemicals is broad, including: solvents, reactants, lubricants, coatings, dyes, colorants, inks, mastics, stabilizers, plasticizers, fragrances, flame retardants, conductors and insulators. Significant exposures too many of these chemicals can result in harmful effects to people or the environment.
While chemicals contribute significantly to national economies and are an indispensable component of everyday life, sound management is essential to avoid risks to human health and the environment.
Reliable information on chemicals at international and regional levels is required to inform national decision-making and thus minimize the negative effects of chemicals on humans and the environment.
The Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) states that “knowledge and information are basic needs for decision-making for the sound management of chemicals, including products and articles containing chemicals”
Lack of clear, accessible, timely, appropriate information for sound management of chemicals in order to minimize their negative effects on human health and the environment has been recognized by many countries.
Registration of chemicals and relevant national inventories allow the identification and prioritization of chemicals of concern, preparation of monitoring and risk assessment strategies and prevention of illegal traffic and stimulate capacity-building.
Collection of information on hazardous chemicals can also facilitate the adoption of appropriate decisions related to chemicals management. For example, in a chemical emergency, poison information centers can access a relevant database for a more effective response.
Chemical registration is an essential system to ensure every compound you work with is identified uniquely. This single central source of identity should be used by everyone (and by all other systems) so you never lose track of exactly what compound was tested.
Equally important is the chemical registration’s function to detect and link duplicates: Compounds may come in a different salt form, which could be considered a new batch of the same compound.
A good chemical registration system will alert if it is tested a compound before the user buy more or spend time screening it again in a slightly different form.
Apart from preparing National Implementation Plan (NIP) to meet obligations under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (Stockholm Convention), Ethiopia has been doing various tasks to control chemicals of various kinds. Article 7 of the Stockholm Convention requires member countries to develop a national implementation plan to meet the requirements of the Convention and communicate such plan to the Conference of Parties (COP) within two years of the coming into force of the Convention. The NIP will, therefore, enable Ethiopia to fulfill its obligations under the Convention as well as help in mitigating the potential threats of POPs on human health and the environment at both the national and global level.
What is more, Industrial Chemical Registration and Administration Proclamation was adopted in 2018.This Proclamation provides rules for registration and the handling of industrial chemicals”. It has the following objectives: 1/ establishing a national system for registration and administration of industrial chemicals; and 2/ preventing and controlling the adverse effects arising from the mismanagement of chemicals to the human and animals health as well as environment safety that may occur in the transaction of industrial chemicals.
It define, “Industrial chemical” as any chemical that is used for industrial, educational and training, research and transfer purposes, with the exclusion of pharmaceutical and medical, food and food additives, agricultural, chemical weapons and radioactive chemicals.
The Proclamation implements in part the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.
Any person who engages in the importation, exportation, transportation and storage of industrial chemicals that has been restricted by Rotterdam Convention and directive issued by the Ministry shall obtain a certificate of competence from Ministry or competent authority.
No person shall produce, import, pack, sell, distribute, store or use industrial chemicals unless registered by competent authority. The competent authority (defined) shall report annually information about administered chemicals to the ministry of Industry.
There are also reporting obligations for any person who is producing, importing, exporting, distributing and using industrial chemicals. The Proclamation contains rules on the packaging and labeling of industrial chemicals. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change shall have the authority to monitor and control enforcement of chemical related activities, it says.
Of late , the country has also launched chemical registration and administration system for industrial chemicals which are imported and produced in Ethiopia. The chemical registration and administration system was jointly prepared by Environment, Forest and Climate Change Commission and Ministry of Trade and Industry.
Environment, Forest and Climate Change Deputy Commissioner Frenesh Mekuria said industry chemical registration is conducted to know the amount and type of chemical that has been produced in the country and imported.
The registration system will facilitate implementation of the Industrial Chemical Registration and Administration Proclamation adopted to prevent and control the adverse effects arising from the mismanagement of industrial chemicals, she added.
Trade and Industry State Minister, Yohannes Dinkayehu stated that deposited chemicals can be identified through the registry system and the government will dispose of or find way to reuse the chemicals.
He noted that the current industrial chemical use in Ethiopia needs strong administration system to know how to use or how to dispose chemicals.
Yohannes elaborated: “The amount of chemical deposit in Ethiopia is not known, and we don’t even know the substances, expiry dates and other essential things regarding the chemicals. Thus the chemical registration will help us learn everything about chemicals in the country.”
In the nut shell, the effort of the country to register and administer chemicals is promising if the proclamation and the new system have been implemented.
BY GIRMACHEW GASHAW
The EthiopianHerald 20 June 2021
