UNEP Environmental Data Report

Environmental Data Report prepared for UNEP by the Monitoring and Assessment Research Centre. Leningrad 1987. P.66-151. 

As an important source of information, the United Nations Environment Programme Environmental Data Report [4] prepared by GEMS/MARC in cooperation with the World Resources Institute, Washington, DC, and the United Kingdom s Department of the Environment, is referenced in the chapter. As an example of data from the latter UNEP report, concentrations of mercury, cadmium, and lead in surface layers of nearshore sediments are presented in Table 1.1. 

IPCS Environmental Health Criteria Documents reflect the collective view of an international group of experts and do not necessarily represent the decision or stated policy of UNEP, ILO, or WHO. The reports summarize and interpret the pertinent published literature. Unpublished information is used when published information is absent or when data are pivotal to the risk assessment. Adequate human data are preferred to animal data. Topics include physical chemistry sources of exposure environmental fate and transport concentrations in the environment and in humans pharmacokinetics effects from acute, subacute, and long-term exposure toxic effects on skin, eye, and reproduction mutagenesis and cancer. 

Valuable assistance in finding information can be obtained by consulting information intermediaries with subject expertise who can identify and access information resources unknown or unavailable locally. These individuals may be in local information centers or may be brokers who specialize in individual information services or creation of compilations of data for a fee. An example of this type of service is the Comprehensive Health and Environmental Monographs (CHEMS) division of Health and Environment International. This service creates detailed reports on the health and environmental effects of a chemical. Professional organizations, database producers, and government agencies can also be sources of experts as well as providers of direct information. An example of the former type of service is UNEP-Infoterra, an international referral and research organization of the... 

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