This report contains the collective views ofan international group ofexperts anct does not necessarilyrepresentthe decisions or the statedpolicy ofthe United Nations Environment Programme, the International Labour Organization or the World Health Organization.
Environmental Health Criteria 235
DERMAL ABSORPTION First draft prepared by Drs Janet Kielhom, Stephanie MelchingKollmuB, and Inge Mangelsdorf, Fraunhofer Institute of Toxicology and Experimental Medicine, Hanover, Germany
Publishedunder the joint sponsorshipof the United Nations Environment Programme, the International Labour Organization and the World Health Organization, and produced within the framework of the Inter-Organization Programme for the Sound Managementof Chemicals.
@B',.uii':;f;ll
The International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS), establishedin 1980, is a joint venture of the United Nations Environment Programme (INEP), the Intemational labour Organization (ILO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). The overall objectives ofthe IPCS are to establish the scientilic basis for assessmentofthe risk to human health and the environment from exposure to chernicals, through international peer review processes, as a prerequisite for the promotion of chemical safety, and to provide technical assistance in strengthaning national capacities for the sound managernent ofchemicals. The Inter-Organization Programme for the Sound Management of Chemicals (IOMC) was established in 1995 by tlNEP, ILO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, WHO, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development @articipating Organizations), following recommendations made by the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development to shengthen cooperation and increase coordination in the field ofchemical safety. The purpose ofthe IOMC is to promote coordination of the policies and activities pursued by the Participating Organizations, jointly or separately, to achieve the sound management of chemicals in relation to human health and the environment. WHO Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Dermal absorption. @nvironmental health criteria ; 235) 1.Skin absorption. 2.Risk assessment. 3.Environmental exposure. I.World Health Organization. tr.International Prosarnme on Chemical Safety. III.Series.
rsBN924 t572353 ISBN978924 157235 4 rssN0250-863X
(NLM classification: WR 102)
@ World Health Organization 2006 All rights reserved. Publications of the World Health Organization can be obtained fiom WHO Press, World Health Organization, 20 Avenue Appia, l2ll Gaeva 27, Switzerland (tel.: +41 22791 3264; fax: +41 22791 4857; e-mail:
[email protected]). Requests for permission to reproduce or translate WHO publications - whether for sale or for noncommercial distribution - should be addressed to WHO Press, at the above address (fa* +41 22791 48O6;e-mail:
[email protected]). The designations employed and the presentation ofthe material in this publication do not imply the expression of