Twinning Light Estonia: The Closing Meeting of the Steering Committee

On June 19th, 2008 in Tallinn at the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Steering Committee of the Twinning Light project “Rising awareness on exposure based risk assessment of chemicals” took place. The Project Leader was the Ministry of Health, while the final beneficiary was the Department of Public Health of the Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs (MOSA). Other partners involved were the Italian Health Institute (ISS), ARPA Veneto and Formez.
The project which ended in June 2008, aimed at the improved control on chemical risks for health and environment by providing support to those institutions responsible for control in compliance with REACH regulations and EU directives on health and environmental protection. The Estonian Project Leader, Ülla-Karin Nurm, Head of Department for Public Health of the Ministry of Social Affairs, opened the committee. The project coordinator, Aive Telling, and the Italian Project Leader, Roberto Binetti, outlined the state of the art of the Twinning project with a focus on the huge satisfaction which was expressed by the partnership. The project activities have been developed through training courses and a study visit which was carried out in Italy at the ISS, IPI, ARPAV and in various laboratories and industrial sites.
In the sphere of training on chemical risk assessment, exercises and practical examples raised much interest in the participants, in particular with reference to the examination of the current legislation on the basis of the historical background related to chemical risks. The visit to the Estonian centre for environmental research with regard to training on strategic evaluation of human and environmental resources and the evaluation of the related impact, produced fulfilling results. The number of participants increased with reference to training on the evaluation of chemicals in compliance with REACH regulation as well as training on “Safety Data Sheet”.
During the meeting, Jüri Truusa, Director at the Department for Environmental and Technological Management, declared that training contributed to laying the basis for a common ground in view of future activities based on the comparison of Italian and Estonian systems in terms of the interpretation and awareness of the new REACH regulation. The Estonian project leader concluded the meeting by expressing appreciation for the work carried out and the need to establish future international collaborations and partnerships, being this a proposal forwarded by the Italian counterpart as well.