Review of CEF Effectiveness

An external consultant has reviewed the effectiveness of the NICNAS Community Engagement Forum (CEF). The review, which was commissioned by NICNAS, found that the CEF is "very successful" and has "made substantial inroads into the representation of the broader community in consultative processes/dialogue on chemicals in Australia".  It concluded that the CEF is "essential".

Key successes mentioned in the review report included:

• the CEF’s work in the Existing Chemicals Review
• the Community Engagement Charter
• the development of the Community Engagement Bulletin, and
• the overall impact that the CEF has had in increasing the relevance and transparency of NICNAS’ work to the community.

In particular, the report states that the Charter will only continue to be effective if it is "part of the day-to-day operations at NICNAS, ensuring timely community engagement as part of the modus operandi when reviewing chemicals".

The report will go to the Parliamentary Secretary for Health, the Hon Mark Butler MP.

Community Engagement Framework

A close-to-final version of the CEF's Community Engagement Framework was discussed at the CEF meeting of 22 May 2009. The framework will operationalise the Community Engagement Charter and furthers the collaborative approach to public engagement projects by NICNAS and the CEF.

The Framework describes the roles and relationship between NICNAS and the CEF in key projects requiring stakeholder engagement. It details the approach that will be followed, including roles, responsibilities and outcomes. It incorporates a flow chart providing a clear process to follow with a 10 point plan for better, more effective community engagement. The Framework is a major step forward for delivering an enhanced stakeholder engagement process for the benefit of government, industry and community in relation to safer and more sustainable regulation of industrial chemicals in Australia.

The Framework will be trialled in a major upcoming project - The Prioritisation of the Australian Inventory of Chemical Substances (AICS), a key recommendation of the Existing Chemicals Review. The project will prioritise the assessment for the backlog of some 38 000 chemicals on the AICS, most of which were grandfathered onto the scheme without health and environmental assessments.

The Framework will be released later in August and published on the Information for the Community page of the NICNAS website.

Low Regulatory Concern Chemicals (LRCC) Review

In 2004 the NICNAS Act - the Industrial Chemicals (Notification and Assessment) Act 1989 - was amended to introduce flexibility to enable more efficient and effective ways of introducing low risk chemicals onto the Australian market.  While it is important to reduce unnecessary compliance burdens on industry, the changes need to meet the guiding principle of the Act to protect public health and the environment. 

Following limited engagement of civil society organisations in the LRCC consultations, NICNAS initiated more formal consultations with the community, which resulted in the establishment of the CEF.

Earlier this year NICNAS engaged a consultant to evaluate the effectiveness of the 2004 reforms. The consultant contacted a number of stakeholders, including CEF members, for input into the evaluation. Industry had also been asked to complete an online survey, the draft results of which are now available (please click the following links to access NICNAS webpage containing information about the report, with links or the report). Initial feedback from stakeholders has made it clear that there will need to be further consultations after information gathered from the survey is finalised.

From a civil society perspective, it’s important to ascertain whether the LRCC reforms have enabled the introduction of safer chemicals, encouraging industry to use fewer of the older, less safe ones.

HAZMAT 2009

The annual HAZMAT conference was held in Sydney on 29 & 30 April 2009. There were a number of very interesting topics and speakers at the conference. A topic of great interest to workers and consumers was the discussion of the information provided with chemicals, its accuracy and currency. Issues surrounding formal manufacturers'/suppliers' Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) and chemical reports provided by commercial companies were discussed.

CEF members have presented at this conference previously: Ms Jane Bremmer presented last year in Melbourne, and Dr Liz Hanna and Dr Bro Sheffield-Brotherton the previous two years.

This year, Ms Renata Musolino gave a presentation on consultation. She addressed the often vexed question of how to proactively consult and discuss difficult chemical issues across industries, government agencies and the community to make chemical handling/use/transport safer. In discussing the benefits of good consultation and the costs of bad or no consultation, she looked at two consultation models – the model legislated under OHS legislation and the model used by NICNAS through the CEF and IGCC. 

The key to successful consultation, according to Ms Musolino, is genuine commitment from the top of the organisation right through all levels. NICNAS had demonstrated such a commitment in supporting the CEF’s public engagement process for the Existing Chemicals Review program. However, there were several lessons learnt during this process and the CEF believed that the quality of consultation would be improved by ensuring that it was fully integrated throughout all NICNAS programs.

New Persistent Organic Pollutants Listed

The Fourth Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) was held in Geneva from 4-8 May 2009. CEF member, Dr Bro Sheffield-Brotherton, attended the conference as a self-funded NGO representative on the Australian Government Delegation.

The Conference provided the first opportunity to list new POPs under the Convention, potentially adding to the "Dirty Dozen" listed. Nine new chemicals had been recommended by the Convention’s Expert Review Committee for listing. All were eventually listed, but civil society representatives were concerned by exemptions granted to four of the new POPs:

• Lindane, which was already banned in over 50 countries, was granted an exemption of five years (with a possibility of extension) for use to control head lice and scabies, for which there are many alternative treatments
• Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (BDEs), specifically pentaBDE and octaBDE, are no longer produced but have been used in a wide variety of plastic products. Ordinarily, products containing listed POPs are banned from re-use or recycling but products containing up to 18% BDEs can be recycled until 2030. Of particular concern to many NGOs are that these materials may be recycled into carpet backing, increasing the likelihood of exposure to small children. A proposal by the International POPs Environmental Network (IPEN) that the products containing recycled POPs be labeled was rejected, and
• Perfluorooctanyl sulfonate (PFOS), a chemical still in widespread use in semi conductors, firefighting foam, pesticides, textiles/stain removers etc.  NGOs were concerned over exemptions being granted for a wide range of PFOS uses in the absence of a robust process to assess claims of a lack of viable alternatives or assessment of the needs for particular applications.

These matters promise to be the subject of spirited debate leading up to and at the next COP.