News Release

1997-13
February 26, 1997

Canadian appointed President of the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety

OTTAWA - Canada will assume the presidency of the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety (IFCS) for the next three years. The decision was taken at the Second Session of the IFCS held in Ottawa February 10-14.

Roy Hickman, Director General of the Environmental Health Directorate at Health Canada was named President of the Forum on behalf of Canada.

"I am pleased that a Canadian, a Health Canada official, was named to this post. I congratulate Mr. Hickman on his appointment," said Health Minister David Dingwall." I am sure he will undertake this task with diligence and care and that he will continue to promote the Forum as an effective way to integrate and consolidate both national and international efforts to promote chemical safety."

The Forum, created in 1994, is a non-institutional arrangement which brought together over 350 representatives of international, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and close to 100 governments to consider all aspects of the assessment and environmentally sound management of chemical risks.

One of the major accomplishments of the Forum was the agreement on February 7 by the United Nations Environment Programme to proceed, in early 1998, with the development of a global convention on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) based on a recommendation developed by the Forum over the past two years under the leadership of Canada. POPs include pesticides such as DDT, industrial chemicals such as PCBs, and by-products of industrial processes such as dioxins and furans. The proposed convention should be developed by the year 2000 and will require controls on 12 POPs to reduce the risks currently posed to human health and the environment.

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Health Canada
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