title: The legal framework to manage chemical pollution in India and the lesson from the Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).
abstract: India's rapid agro-economic growth has resulted into many environmental issues, especially related to chemical pollution. Environmental management and control of toxic chemicals have gained significant attention from policy makers, researchers, and enterprises in India. The present study reviews the policy and legal and non-regulatory schemes set in place in this country during the last decades to manage chemical risk and compares them with those in developed nations. India has a large and fragmented body of regulation to control and manage chemical pollution which appears to be ineffective in protecting environment and human health. The example of POPs contamination in India is proposed to support such a theory. Overlapping of jurisdictions and retrospectively approached environmental policy and risk management currently adopted in India are out of date and excluding Indian economy from the process of building and participating into new, environmentally-sustainable market spaces for chemical products. To address these issues, the introduction of a new integrated and scientifically-informed regulation and management scheme is recommended. Such scheme should acknowledge the principle of risk management rather than the current one based on risk acceptance. To this end, India should take advantage of the experience of recently introduced chemical management regulation in some developed nations.
authors.affiliation: TERI University, 10 Institutional Area, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi 110070, India. Electronic address: brijmsharma05@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Brij Mohan
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.affiliation: The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), Darbari Seth Block, India Habitat Center, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110003, India.
authors.forename: Girija K
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Bharat
authors.affiliation: TERI University, 10 Institutional Area, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi 110070, India; The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), Darbari Seth Block, India Habitat Center, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110003, India.
authors.forename: Shresth
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tayal
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Institute for water Research (NIVA), Gaustadalleen 21, Oslo 0349, Norway; Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment (RECETOX), Masaryk University, Brno 62500, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Nizzetto
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Institute for water Research (NIVA), Gaustadalleen 21, Oslo 0349, Norway.
authors.forename: Thorjørn
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Larssen
mesh_terms: D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D058735:Environmental Policy; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007194:India; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000032:analysis*; D018570:Risk Assessment
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D009930:Organic Chemicals
keywords: Chemical Management; Environment Policy; Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs); REACH; Toxic Chemicals