Japanese Chemical Substances

A major amendment was made to the Japanese Chemical Substances Control Law in April 2004 on the recommendations made by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in the Environmental Conservation Review - Further Expansion of the Regulation Scope for Conservation of Ecosystem in line with the Agenda 21 - Human Action Program for Sustainable Development of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). In order to conform to international harmonisation, the amended Chemical Substances Control Law has introduced a new examination and regulation system to prevent not only hazards to human health but also damages to animals and plants. 

The LD q for sodium bromide taken orally by rats is 3.5 g/kg body weight, and the TD q orally in rats is 720 mg/kg (8). RTECS Hsts data on reproductive effects in male and female rats. Sodium bromide is Hsted in the TSCA Inventory, the Canadian Domestic Substances Hst (DSL), the European Inventory of Existing Commercial Chemical Substances (EINECS), the Japanese Existing and New Chemical Substances (ENCS), and the Korean Existing Chemicals Hst (ECL). It is not regulated by the U.S. Department of Transportation. 

JETOC (1997) Mutagenicity Test Data of Existing Chemical Substances, Suppl., Tokyo, Japanese Chemical Industry Ecology-Toxicology and Information Center, p. 94... 

Japan introduced a law to control production and importation of hazardous chemicals as early as 1973. The law was amended many times since then. A major addition was made in 1999, when the Japanese PRTR law was introduced. The law also introduced MSDS in Japan. Then, the Law for Evaluation and Regulation of Chemical Substances of 1973 was amended in 2003 to expand its evaluation criteria to include environmental hazards, and to introduce a risk based evaluation and regulation system. 

Chemical substances which may cause adverse effects to human health, endanger people s lives or damage the environment are called hazardous materials. In Japan, hazardous materials are distinguished by two general legal definitions namely, hazardous chemicals in a narrow sense and hazardous materials in a broad sense. Hazardous chemicals in a narrow sense are those substances having ignitability and flammability as specified in the Japanese Fire Services Law these materials are listed in the Exhibit of the Law. 

At the meeting of the Chemical Substances Council held by the Japanese government in 2004, it was reported that a bioconcentration study was conducted in 2003 with SCCPs with Cn and Cly, g, 9, lo (chlorine 62.5, 65.7, 68.5 and 70.9%) containing 1% of stabilizer and the quantitative data on each individual substance were obtained [13]. The study was conducted with flow-through system at concentrations of 1 and 0.1 pg of SCCPs, and 20 mg of 2-metoxyethanol was used as dispersant. Liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) was used for the analysis of the test species, carp Cyprinus carpio). After 62-day exposure, a 14-day excretion study was also conducted. The result is shown in Table 6. 

Chemical Substances Council (2004) 34th central environment council, environment and health panel, chemical screening subcommission (in Japanese)... 

Japanese labelling requirements are not as comprehensive as in the EC and the USA, and there is currently no legal requirement for MSDSs. Specified and designated chemical substances under the MITI/MHW scheme have to be labelled appropriately, as do dangerous substances under the MOL law and other legislation. 

As dangerous as mercur r vapor is, it is by no means the most toxic form of the metal. This distinction belongs to a compound of mercury, dimethyl mercury. The world found out about the deadly nature of this substance in the 1950s, when dozens of people died and thousands experienced symptoms of mercury toxicity in the Japanese fishing village of Minamata. A nearby chemical company had been using mercury in the production of acetylene, and it had routinely discharged the used mercury into the ocean. Mercury isn t soluble in water, and it should have simply accumulated harmlessly at the bottom of the sea. But it didn t. 

Two of the earliest observations that exposure of humans to certain chemicals or substances is related to an increased incidence of cancer were made independently by two English physicians, John Hill in 1771 and Sir Percival Pott in 1776. Hill observed an increased incidence of nasal cancer among snuff users, while Pott observed that chimney sweeps had an increased incidence of scrotal cancer. Pott attributed this to topical exposure to soot and coal tar. It was not until nearly a century and a half later in 1915 when two Japanese scientists, K. Yamagiwa and K. J. Itchikawa, substantiated Pott s observation by demonstrating that multiple topical applications of coal tar to rabbit skin produced skin carcinomas. This experiment is important for two major... 

In the latter half of Chapter 3, standard testing methods are introduced which are applicable to the evaluation of self-reactive substances. As stated previously, methods already known and described in "Safety of Reactive Chemicals" 3 5 are briefly mentioned. Primarily methods developed after the publication of "Safety of Reactive Chemicals" are explained in this book, and all the methods 2 c adopted under the Japanese Fire Services Law are described. 

Reactive chemicals sometimes cause an explosion after long storage. The cause of the explosion may be the generation of an explosive peroxide. In order to avoid such accidents, one should be familiar with the atomic groups which generate peroxides. These groups are listed in the table 3 41. Based on Bretherick s book, a table 8 of spontaneously combustible substances, water—reactive substances, and unstable substances has been prepared. This table is in the Japanese edition of this book. It may be helpful for individuals to prepare similar tables of structural formulas specific to hazardous substances by using data from references. 

REITP2 was developed by our laboratory at the University of Tokyo fire and explosion hazards of single substances or mixtures are predicted by using the standard enthalpies of formation. These methods are used by some Japanese companies for the preliminary evaluation of hazardous chemicals. 

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