World Health Organization

The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations. There are 193 member states as of January 2008. The WHO is headquartered in Europe with four regional offices in Africa, the Americas, the Eastern Mediterranean, Southeast Asia, and the Western Pacihc. The WHO is not a regulatory agency. Its functions are  

The World Health Organization (WHO) is the UN s specialized agency for health. It was established in 1948. WHO s objective, as set out in its constitution, is the attainment by all people of the highest possible level of health. Health is defined in WHO s constitution as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely as the absence of disease or infirmity. 

WHO is governed by the UN s 192 Member States through the World Health Assembly. The Health Assembly is composed of representatives from WHO s Member States. The main tasks of the World Health Assembly are to approve the WHO program and the budget for the following biennium and to decide major policy questions (WHO 2006). 

Compliance with all these authorities would assist in smoother paths towards approval of drugs for manufacturing and marketing. 

There are four major categories of CTDs. They are topics on Quality, Safety, Efficacy, and Multidisciplinary. Details are provided in Exhibit 7.5. 

The intention is that these CTDs are to be implemented by the three partners of ICH by 1 July 2003. The CTDs are format-based documents for submission to the regulatory authorities the process of review, for example via IND, NDA, or the Centralized Procedure is not affected. The harmonized CTDs help to reduce cost and accelerate approval time. 

WHO works with regulatory authorities in member states in setting up policies and training programs to ensure drugs are safe, pure and effective, and are being distributed and administered as specified. 

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FoodNutrition Meeting Report, Ser. No. 52, Pood and Agricultural Organizational, World Health Organization, Rome, 1973. 

Formaldehjde, Environmental Health Criteria 89, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, 1989, p. 17. 

Considerable concern has been raised over the carcinogenic potential of 2,4-D. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) has evaluated the environmental health aspects of this chemical and concluded that 2,4-D posed an insignificant threat to the environment. They did indicate, however, that... 

DOL). Similar laws are in place in almost every country in the world and are proposed by such international organizations as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labor Organization (ILO). 

World Health Organization (WHO) Environmental Health Criteria, Organophosphorus Insecticides Geneva, Switzerland, 1986. 

Joint Expert Committee on Pood Additives, World Health Organization, 1988. 

Sorbic acid is metabolized to carbon dioxide and water ia the same way as other fatty acids, releasiag 27.6 kj/g sorbate (6.6 kcal/g) (165). As a result of the favorable toxicological and physiological aspects, the World Health Organization (WHO) has allowed sorbic acid at the highest acceptable daily iatake of all food preservatives, 25 mg/kg body weight (178). 

Preventive medicine through vaccination continues to be the most cost-effective pubHc health practice, even with the drastic advance in modern medicine. Mass vaccination programs have eradicated smallpox from the earth. The World Health Organization (WHO) has a major campaign underway to eradicate poHo by the year 2000. The development of vaccines has saved millions of Hves and prevented many more from suffering. However, there are stiU many diseases without effective vaccines, such as malaria. With the recent emergence of antibiotic-resistance strains and exotic vimses, an effective vaccine development program becomes a top priority of pubHc health poHcy. 

In 1949 the World Health Organization adopted the biological activity of 1 mg of an oil solution containing 0.025 p.g of crystalline D as the analytical standard for vitamin D. This standard was discontinued in 1972. USP uses crystalline cholecalciferol as a standard (80). Samples of reference standard may be purchased from U.S. Pharmacopeia Convention, Inc., Reference Standards Order Department, 12601, Twinbrook Parkway, Rockville, Maryland 20852. One international unit of vitamin D activity is that activity demonstrated by 0.025 ]1 of pure crystalline (7 -vitamin D. One gram of vitamin D3 is equivalent to 40 x 10 lU or USP units. The international chick unit (ICU) is identical to the USP unit. 

Control of Schistosomiasis, Technical report Series, WHO No. 728, World Health Organization, Washington, D.C., 1985. 

L4RC Monographs on the Evaluation of the Carcinogenic Risk of Chemicals to Humans, Vol. 29, World Health Organization, Lyon, France, May 1982, p. 97. 

An average of about 7 ppm of bromine is found ia terrestrial plants, and edible foods contain up to 20 ppm. Among animals the highest bromide contents are found ia sea life, such as fish, sponges, and cmstaceans (44). Animal tissues contain 1—9 ppm of bromide and blood 5—15 ppm. The World Health Organization has set a maximum acceptable bromide iatake for humans at 1 mg/kg of body weight per day. In adult males the bromine content ia semm has been found to be 3.2—5.6 p.g/mL, ia urine 0.3—7.0 p.g/mL, and ia hair 1.1—49.0 p.g/mL. Bromine may be an essential trace element as are the other hahdes (45). 

For all three compounds, biological data relevant to the evaluation of carcinogenic risk to humans are summarized in the World Health Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer monograph (70). 

The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) jointiy sponsor the Codex Alimentarius Commission, which conducts a program for developing worldwide food standards. The Codex Committee for Cocoa Products and Chocolate has developed standards for chocolate (Codex Standard 87-1981), and cocoa powders and dry cocoa—sugar mixtures (Codex Standard 105-1981). As a member of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the United States is obligated to consider all Codex standards for acceptance. 

FAO Nutrition Meetings Report, Series No. 40 A,B,C, Pood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations World Health Organization, New York, 1967, p. 134. 

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