An intergovernmental forum will call on governments to establish national plans by 2005 to safely manage hazardous chemicals, according to draft documents obtained by Kyodo News.

The Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety will urge countries to develop national policies and action plans for improving the management of dangerous chemicals, says the final draft of the IFCS Priorities for Action Beyond 2000.

The document, along with a declaration on chemical safety, is expected to be adopted by the forum at a session set for Oct. 15 to 20 in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil.

It says action plans for safe disposal of obsolete stocks of pesticides and other toxic chemicals, such as polychlorinated biphenyls, should be established in all regions and in at least two countries in each region by 2004.

Such plans "must be urgently facilitated particularly in developing countries and countries with economies in transition," the draft states, adding that future stockpiling of the chemicals must be prevented.

PCBs, a group of carcinogenic compounds that tend to accumulate in animal tissue and can interfere in human reproductive systems, have become an issue in Japan. Use of PCBs is banned in the country, but stockpiles of the chemical remain.

The draft document calls for the establishment by 2002 in at least 70 countries of systems aimed at preventing major industrial accidents, with similar arrangements to be in place in all countries eventually.

It also emphasizes the need for common principles among nations in terms of health and environmental risk assessments by 2004, as well as classification and labeling of chemicals by 2008 so as to facilitate the protection of human health and the environment.

The IFCS is a mechanism for cooperation for the promotion of chemical risk assessment and the environmentally sound management of chemicals.