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The establishment of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) is one of the global initiatives to promote effective chemical hazard communication worldwide. ...

Exposure to aluminium (Al) is inevitable in the daily life because of its abundance in the environmental media through natural processes. Meanwhile, several studies have reported a positive association between Alzheimer’s disease and a higher level of Al ingestion through drinking water. The present study is the first of its kind in Malaysia which predicts the human health risk of Al ingestion via drinking water at the Langat River Basin, Malaysia. Water samples were collected during 2015–2016 from the four stages of drinking water supply chain at the basin to determine the concentrations of Al by the Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). The determined mean concentration of Al in river 2.50E−01 ± 1.89E−01 mg/L crossed the Malaysian drinking water quality standard of 0.2 mg/L. The higher concentration of Al in the Langat River might be due to natural weathering of Al-bearing minerals. The mean Al concentrations in the treated water by the treatment plants, household’s tap and after filtration water, respectively, were found to be within the Malaysian drinking water quality standard. This study suggests that there is no potential human health risk of Al ingestion through drinking water (HQ = 3.81E−03 ± 1.82E−03) at 95% confidence level in the basin because the hazard quotient (HQ) value is less than 1. However, the authorities need to be careful of excessive ingestion of Al via drinking water because the water treatment plants in the basin follow the conventional method to treat raw water. The turbidity in the tropical Langat River changes very frequently; thus, the doses of Al2(SO4)3 for water disinfection are very crucial. Therefore, reverse osmosis technology can be introduced in the treatment plants because the United States Environmental Protection Agency has recommended that it can remove all types of metal > 90% from treated water.

Prolonged persistence of toxic cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr) and lead (Pb) in the aquatic environment are due to its nonbiodegradable characteristic. A few studies have reported higher concentrations of these metals in the transboundary Langat River, Malaysia. This study determined the spatial and temporal distributions of Cd, Cr and Pb concentrations (2005&ndash, 2015) in the Langat River along with assessing the status of these metals in the drinking water supply chain at the basin. Water samples were collected once in 2015 from the drinking water supply chain, i.e., from the river, treated water at plants, taps and filtration water at households. Determined mean concentrations of Cd, Cr and Pb by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry in the Langat River were within the drinking water quality standard of Malaysia and the WHO, except for the Pb (9.99 &plusmn, 1.40 &micro, g/L) concentration, which was at the maximum limit, 10 &micro, g/L. The spatial and temporal distribution of these metals&rsquo, concentrations indicate dilution of it downstream, along with the increasing trend in rainfall and water flow, especially during the northeast monsoon. Significant correlation and regression analysis of the Cd, Cr and Pb concentrations also indicate that the sources of this metal pollution are mainly the natural weathering of minerals along with anthropogenic activities in the basin. The determined overall water quality of the Langat River is categorized Class IIA (i.e., clean), which requires conventional treatment before drinking, however, the maximum removal efficiency of these metals by the plants at the basin was about 90.17%. Therefore, the proactive leadership roles of the local authorities will be appropriate to reduce the pollution of this river as well as introducing a two-layer water filtration system at the Langat River Basin to accelerate the achievement of a sustainable drinking water supply.

The presence of toxic polonium-210 (Po-210) in the environment is due to the decay of primordial uranium-238. Meanwhile, several studies have reported elevated Po-210 radioactivity in the rivers around the world due to both natural and anthropogenic factors. However, the primary source of Po-210 in Langat River, Malaysia might be the natural weathering of granite rock along with mining, agriculture and industrial activities. Hence, this is the first study to determine the Po-210 activity in the drinking water supply chain in the Langat River Basin to simultaneously predict the human health risks of Po-210 ingestion. Therefore, water samples were collected in 2015&ndash, 2016 from the four stages of the water supply chain to analyze by Alpha Spectrometry. Determined Po-210 activity, along with the influence of environmental parameters such as time-series rainfall, flood incidents and water flow data (2005&ndash, 2015), was well within the maximum limit for drinking water quality standard proposed by the Ministry of Health Malaysia and World Health Organization. Moreover, the annual effective dose of Po-210 ingestion via drinking water supply chain indicates an acceptable carcinogenic risk for the populations in the Langat Basin at 95% confidence level, however, the estimated annual effective dose at the basin is higher than in many countries. Although several studies assume the carcinogenic risk of Po-210 ingestion to humans for a long time even at low activity, however, there is no significant causal study which links Po-210 ingestion via drinking water and cancer risk of the human. Since the conventional coagulation method is unable to remove Po-210 entirely from the treated water, introducing a two-layer water filtration system at the basin can be useful to achieve SDG target 6.1 of achieving safe drinking water supplies well before 2030, which might also be significant for other countries.

Water is not only a resource, it is a life source; therefore, the water should be healthy, secure, and sustainable for people. Watersheds are nature’s boundaries for surface water supplies, and thus, the quality of the drinking water at a consumer’s tap depends on the quality of watershed. The risk assessment which is a process used to define the probability and magnitude of adverse effects of an environment from stressors can be used to estimate the costs and benefits of changes in a watershed in terms of risk. This chapter describes the source of pollution and the framework for assessing risk in Malaysian watershed.

Due to inadequate planning, rapid development and urbanization have polluted watersheds. Hence, watersheds must be managed properly to ensure their sustainability, by taking into account the importance of landscape and ecology and different socio-economic conditions, culture and religion. Among others, one of the ways to enhance watershed management is via adequate institutional arrangement and legal framework. This chapter has selected Malaysia as a case study, and by focusing on the discharge of pollutants, this chapter demonstrates how both federal and state governments complement each other to strengthen the regulatory framework in preventing pollution in watersheds. While the federal government regulates the discharge from manufacturing processes, the state government regulates activities that are not covered by the federal government, such as aquaculture and farming.

Lack of treated water system in Sabah has increase human dependency to groundwater sources. The presence of contaminants such as nitrate in groundwater can pose severe health implications to human, such as methemoglobinemia and cancerous diseases. The objectives of this paper were to quantify the nitrate concentration in groundwater, to calculate potential human health risk exposure of nitrate in groundwater and to compare the potential human health risk exposure of nitrate between rural and agriculture areas. Six tube wells were selected at Inanam and Kota Belud district and involved one-hundred eighty respondents aged from 7 to 12 years old. The groundwater samples were analyzed using Cadmium Reduction method of HACH DR2800 Spectrophotometer and human health risk exposure were assessed using Chronic Daily Intake (CDI) and Hazard Index (HI) after set of information of respondents were obtained by questionnaires. Result obtained were showing mean ± S.D of nitrate levels in groundwater well and filtered water of agriculture (0.79 ± 0.33 mg/L; 0.33 ± 0.29 mg/L) and rural (0.50 ± 0.12mg/L; 0.53 ± 0.10 mg/L) areas were within the acceptable value limit set by National Drinking Water Quality Standard of Malaysia (10 mg/L). The statistical analysis of Kruskal-Wallis and one-way ANOVA test implied there were no significant differences of nitrate levels between two areas (p>0.05). Moreover, the mean ± S.D of CDI for agriculture and rural areas were 0.0064 ± 0.0056 mg/kg/day 0.0140 ± 0.0096 mg/kg/day respectively and HI were less than 1. The insignificant differences of potential human health risk were noted in terms of gender and age of respondents between two areas. This specified that the human health risk of respondents involved in this study was in acceptable range and not exposed to severe health risks.

The European Union (EU) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have applied different approaches to facilitate the implementation of the UN Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS). The EU applied the mandatory approach by gazetting the EU Regulation 1272/2008 incorporating GHS elements on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures in 2008; whereas the WHO utilized a voluntary approach by incorporating GHS elements in the WHO guidelines entitled 'WHO Recommended Classification of Pesticides by Hazard' in 2009. We report on an analysis of both the mandatory and voluntary approaches practised by the EU and the WHO respectively, with close reference to the GHS 'purple book'. Our findings indicate that the mandatory approach practiced by the EU covers all the GHS elements referred to in the second revised edition of the GHS 'purple book'. Hence we can conclude that the EU has implemented the GHS particularly for industrial chemicals. On the other hand, the WHO guidelines published in 2009 should be revised to address concerns raised in this paper. In addition, both mandatory and voluntary approaches should be carefully examined because the classification results may be different.

Chemical classification and labelling systems may be roughly similar from one country to another but there are significant differences too. In order to harmonize various chemical classification systems and ultimately provide consistent chemical hazard communication tools worldwide, the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) was endorsed by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Several countries, including Japan, Taiwan, Korea and Malaysia, are now in the process of implementing GHS. It is essential to ascertain the comprehensibility of chemical hazard communication tools that are described in the GHS documents, namely the chemical labels and Safety Data Sheets (SDS). Comprehensibility Testing (CT) was carried out with a mixed group of industrial workers in Malaysia (n=150) and factors that influence the comprehensibility were analysed using one-way ANOVA. The ability of the respondents to retrieve information from the SDS was also tested in this study. The findings show that almost all the GHS pictograms meet the ISO comprehension criteria and it is concluded that the underlying core elements that enhance comprehension of GHS pictograms and which are also essential in developing competent persons in the use of SDS are training and education.

After the 1970s, Malaysia's economy diversified from agriculture into manufacturing. The manufacturing sector's contribution grew from a mere 13.4% of the total GDP in 1970, to 30.3% of the GDP in 2007. Realising that increasing industrialisation causes threats to the environment, Malaysia has always emphasised environmental protection. The 2008 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) study carried out by Yale University and Columbia University ranked Malaysia 26th out of 149 countries that participated in the study. However, there are still a number of challenges that need immediate attention, particularly issues pertaining to chemical management. Several initiatives pertaining to chemical management are currently carried out by various agencies across government, private sector and civil society but these initiatives take a sectoral approach. Several structures are suggested towards the establishment of a sound chemical management system (CMS) in Malaysia, namely the gazetting of a Chemical Act, the establishment of a designated Chemical Authority and the development of a Malaysian Chemical Database (MyCD). A set of economic policy instruments is also prescribed in this paper to aid the appropriate authorities in their efforts to materialize a sound chemical management system in Malaysia. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Received May 7, 2009; Accepted Aug 25, 2009 Published online in J-STAGE Oct 16, 2009 Correspondence to: G.C. Ta, Institute for Environment and Development (LESTARI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), 43600 UKM BANGI, Selangor, Malaysia (e-mail: gohchoota@ukm.my) Model for the Implementation of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS): Lessons Learned from Japan