NICNAS Welcomes Dr Marion Healy

New Director, NICNAS

The appointment of Dr Marion Healy as Director, NICNAS was announced by Senator the Hon Brett Mason, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing, on 11 April 2007, and Dr Healy commenced as Director on Thursday 26 April.

'I am very pleased to be here at NICNAS,' Dr Healy stated, 'particularly at a time when the regulation of industrial chemicals is receiving so much attention and scrutiny from all sectors. There is a great deal of progress in many of NICNAS's prime activity areas, but - as always - there are accompanying challenges, and I look forward to meeting them with the NICNAS staff.'

Dr Healy took the reins in this work from Dr Roshini Jayewardene who had been serving as Acting Director since August 2006. Soon after her arrival at NICNAS, Dr Healy paid tribute to her predecessor.

Newsletter archive now available

Back issues of NICNAS eNewsletter are now available on the NICNAS website. Just click * or go to: http://www.nicnas.gov.au/Publications/Enewsletter.asp  

Lead compounds in cosmetics - Call for Information

Information sought by 1 June 2007

Information is sought on all such products to determine if further regulatory action is required for cosmetics containing lead. 

This notice is directed to all persons who have manufactured or imported lead compounds for use in cosmetics or imported cosmetic products containing lead compounds in the calendar years 2005 and 2006. Any other persons with information on these chemicals (including users, past importers or manufacturers) are also encouraged to provide information on the chemicals.

The following information is required -

Call for comment on Phthalates Hazard Assessments

Comment also invited on new Hazard Compendium

Phthalates – used as plasticisers (plastic softeners) worldwide – are employed in a diverse range of industrial and domestic applications. They can be present in soft plastics at concentrations up to 35-45%.

In response to concerns over potential adverse human health effects from exposure to phthalates, NICNAS conducted general data searches and a call for information on phthalates from Industry in 2004. Twenty-five individual phthalate chemicals were identified as being potentially in use in Australia, and human health hazard (toxicity) assessments were then conducted on the 25 chemicals. A draft Phthalate Hazard Compendium containing hazard profiles and a comparative analysis of key toxicity endpoints for each of the 25 phthalates was also prepared.

NICNAS seeks comment on the documents by 1 August 2007. Please send comments to Ms Vivian Chan (fax 02 8577 8888 or email).

All 25 draft hazard assessments and the Compendium are available as separate documents which can be downloaded from the NICNAS website at www.nicnas.gov.au. In addition, each of the documents is available (free of charge) in PDF format on a CD-ROM directly from NICNAS. Please contact Ms Virginia Parish - fax 02 8577 8888 or email.

Full details of the procedure for accessing copies of the assessments and for lodging comments are available in the May 2007 NICNAS Chemical Gazette.

Risk Assessments on Nine Phthalate Chemicals

Phthalates in children’s products and cosmetics

Consumer products such as soft plastic articles and cosmetics are potentially sources of repeated and long-term exposure to phthalates through migration and leaching. Within the group of 25 phthalate chemicals for which assessment reports are available (see above item), nine phthalate chemicals were (on 7 March 2006) additionally declared as Priority Existing Chemicals (PECs) for full public health risk assessments for the following specific consumer applications:
a children’s toys
a childcare articles, and
a cosmetics.

Following the consideration of comments received (by the process outlined in the above item), hazard assessments for these nine phthalates will be used to conduct public health risk assessments (for the phthalates in the applications). It is planned to complete this by the end of 2007.

If you have any questions regarding the hazard assessments or the assessment processes, please contact Dr Graham Harvey, (Ph: 02 8577 8851, Fax: 02 8577 8888 or by email.

Upgrade to Hazardous Substances Information System (HSIS)

The HSIS,  first released by the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission (NOHSC) in January 2005, has now has been upgraded to fit the look and feel of the Australian Safety and Compensation Council (ASCC) website and to be compliant with IT requirements within the Department of Workplace Relations.

Basic structure and operation of the HSIS closely resembles the first version – with a number of new features and improvements such as:
a simplified search screens that can be expanded to an Advanced Search screen when required

Castor Oil, Monomaleate

New data available

Castor oil, monomaleate was assessed by NICNAS as LTD/1255 and a public report published in July 2006. However, an additional study report ‘A local lymph node assay’ for the notified chemical, castor oil, monomaleate has now been submitted by ISP (Australasia) Pty Ltd. This study was not available at the time of assessment of castor oil, monomaleate as a new chemical.

The summary of the new study (below) will be appended to the LTD report.

Study summary
The study was performed according to the OECD Test Guideline 429: Skin Sensitisation: Local Lymph node Assay. The study was conducted in groups of five female mice that received 0, 2.5, 5 or 10 % triclosan in acetone/olive oil (4/1, v/v) and also included a positive control. There were no deaths during the study.

Accessing NICNAS's Full Public Reports 

NICNAS publishes a Full Public Report for each new chemical assessed. 

These reports are available for public inspection at the library of the Office of the Australian Safety and Compensation Council in Canberra, by appointment only.  Please call the library on 02 6121 5317 or fax 02 6121 9138 to arrange to view the Full Public Report.

Reports can also be viewed and downloaded free of charge from our website at www.nicnas.gov.au.  Copies of these reports may also be requested, free of charge, by contacting the Administration Section of NICNAS by phone: 02 8577 8816 or fax: 02 8577 8888.