| THE WH |
 |
|
PAGES |
WHO Explores
Supply Management in Kosovo
Following the signing of a
peace agreement in the Kosovo conflict, a WHO task force visited Kosovo in late June and
studied the issue of transparency and accountability in the management of
internationally-donated health supplies. Following broad consultation with local
counterparts, UN agencies, NGOs and representatives of bilateral donors, the task force
recommended the creation of a Kosovo-wide system to capture information on incoming health
supplies at the point of entry, before they enter the distribution network of any
particular agency. It was recommended that WHO assume this responsibility, within its role
as interim Ministry of Health.
A remarkable feature in this particular humanitarian operation is the strong pressure that
European NGOs are exercising on the international community and WHO to aggressively
monitor compliance with the WHO guidelines on donations of medicines and equipment. These
NGOs are quite concerned and are actively lobbying for self-policing on the part of the
international community. This encouraging trend should be stimulated.
WHO Produces Draft
Guidelines on Fire Events
Wild fires that affect
forests and other vegetation worldwide can be the result of natural causes or accelerated
by man. Regardless of the cause, the smoke generated by wildland fires also affects human
health and can lead to loss of lives. Since early August, Bolivia's department of Santa
Cruz has been experiencing serious fires across a wide area, apparently the result of
burning fields in preparation for planting. A prolonged drought and strong winds in the
region fuelled these fires.
WHO has produced "Health Guidelines for Episodic Vegetation Fire Events" to
provide guidance to governments and municipal authorities when large parts of the
population are exposed to smoke from fires. The core document summarizes the experience
and knowledge from the WHO-UNEP-WMO expert meeting in Lima, Peru in October 1998
(individual background papers are published in a separate document). A third document - a
Teacher's Guide - compiles educational materials that can be used in training courses.
These are the first WHO publications to provide global advice and guidance on managing
episodic vegetation fire events, and they were prepared to:
For more information about
this set of documents contact Dieter Schwela, World Health Organization, fax: (41-42)
791-4123; e-mail: schwelad@who.ch
WHO Experts Re-evaluate
Health Risks from Dioxins
Forty specialists from 15
countries met at the headquarters of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva from 25
to 29 May to evaluate the risks which dioxins might cause to health. Since the Seveso
incident in 1976, this group of persistent environmental chemicals has consistently
grabbed the headlines, although the real effect of these substances is difficult to
determine. This group of chemicals includes polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDDs),
polychlorinated dibensofurans (PCDFs), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), although the
most toxic dioxin of all is 2,3,7,8tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). TCDD has been shown
to cause dermatological problems, notably chloracne, a chronic and disfiguring skin
disease.
These substances are omnipresent in the ground, river beds, and air. They are involuntary
by-products formed when thermal processes produce chlorine and other organic substances.
They can also be produced by volcanic activity, which cannot be controlled, and by forest
fires, but the principal controllable sources of dioxin production are waste incinerators.
In recent years, the WHO European Centre for Environmental Health (WHO-ECEH) has been
coordinating a comprehensive programme, in collaboration with the International Programme
on Chemical Safety (IPCS) on PCDDs, PCDFs, and PCBs, to evaluate the possible health risk
as well as methods of prevention and control of environmental exposure of the general
population to these chemicals.
During a previous meeting on dioxins, held at Bilthoven in the Netherlands in 1990, WHO
experts established a tolerable daily intake of 10 picogrammes/kilogram body weight for
TCDD, said to be the most toxic dioxin (One picogramme equals a millionth of a millionth
of a gram).
Since then, new epidemiological data have emerged, notably concerning dioxins' effects on
neurological development and the endocrine system, and WHO thus convened the consultation
which has just taken place in Geneva to re-evaluate the tolerable daily dose of dioxins to
which a human can be exposed. After ample debate, the specialists agreed on a new
tolerable daily intake range of I to 4 picogrammes/kilogram body weight. The experts,
however, recognized that subtle effects may already occur in the general population in
developed countries at current background levels of 2 to 6 picogrammes/kilogram body
weight. They therefore recommended that every effort should be made to reduce exposure to
the lowest possible level.
The background documents for the experts' meeting discussed carcinogenic and
non-carcinogenic effects of dioxins on humans and animals, the risks for young children,
transmission mechanisms, general exposure to dioxins and the compounds of the same nature,
as well as current means of evaluating these risks in different countries.
"Recent exposure data show that measures introduced to control dioxin release in a
number of countries have resulted in a substantial reduction in intake of these compounds
in the past few years," emphasized the Assessment of Risk and Methodology unit in the
WHO Programme for the Promotion of Chemical Safety. "This is evidenced by a marked
decrease in dioxin levels in human milk, as found in an exposure study conducted by the
WHO European Centre for Environment and Health, with the highest rates of decrease being
observed in areas which had the highest initial concentrations."
|