FOREWORD
We dedicate a separate issue of our Journal to presenting one of the most important – from practical
and academic aspects alike – sections of the history of chemical safety in Hungary.
Although the researchers and specialists of the field are yet to explore and
evaluate the historical roots of our chemical safety system, it is undeniable that Hungary early joined
the endeavour to implement and develop chemical safety. Hungary recognised the significance of the
Memorandum of the Club of Rome, the Stockholm World Conference on “environmental protection”, the
Brundtland Report, and the London Conference held to prepare for “Rio”. She joined the work of
IPCS, IRPTC, IARC, and, perhaps, the earliest of JMPR. She was among the first countries, maybe,
even the very first one in Central and Eastern Europe that actively adhered the policy on hazardous
chemicals of the EU. Regulations were passed in the mid-1980s which aimed at eliminating the
so-called “non-qualified” substances from the market, i.e., those that had not undergone proper
toxicological screening. Moreover, these regulations aimed to enforce, at least partially, the
screening of hazardous preparations or a group of them, too.
Following the social, economic, and political changes of the years
1989–1990, Hungary stood in to a greater extent with the hazardous material policies of the
intergovernmental organisations and the European Community. Hungary, already being a member of OECD,
managed to fulfill the task of legal harmonisation assigned to her for the first period by 1998,
by the time of the multi- and bilateral talks between the European Union and Hungary. Inspired by
IFCS and paying attention to the guidance of UNITAR, Hungary developed her first National Profile
of Chemical Safety by the end of 1997. The Profile – in accordance with its goals – provided an
overview of the current state of chemical safety in the country and its regulatory and institutional
systems, revealing the so-called strengths and weaknesses of the chemical safety system. Moreover,
beyond the specifications of the UNITAR guidelines it drafted the framework of a national action
plan, the implementation of which successfully solved the most important national chemical safety
tasks. Since that time, one of the first acts of chemical safety in the World has been passed, the
National Institute for Chemical Safety founded, beyond a technically “trained” chemical safety
surveillance – with a support of the PHARE Program – a rapid alert and response information and
laboratory system, too, has been established, chemical safety education introduced into the national
curriculum, and the requirements for the legal harmonisation with EU met. The present new National
Profile in the field of chemical safety reports on this “second” period.
It is our hope that Hungary with her achievements will contribute to
the further development of chemical safety of Central and Eastern Europe.