One Health: A Unified Approach for a Healthier Future

One Health is a concept that recognizes the intricate links between the health of people, animals, plants, and our shared environment. This integrated approach emphasizes that our well-being is intertwined with the health of the natural world and the animals we coexist with. A healthy future for communities and ecosystems is only achievable through a comprehensive approach that considers all these factors together.

One Health underscores the importance of collaborative, multisectoral, and transdisciplinary efforts to prevent, predict, and respond to health threats at local, regional, national, and global levels. The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) plays a vital role in this context by working to ensure chemical safety across Europe, thereby contributing to both human health and environmental protection.

ECHA's Role in Supporting One Health

ECHA is a crucial player in safeguarding chemical safety throughout Europe, contributing significantly to this unified approach to protect both human health and the environment. Through a series of EU regulations, the Agency supports efforts to manage the risks associated with chemicals.

ECHA’s activities focus on several key areas:

REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals): ECHA works to identify substances of very high concern, ensure compliance, and propose EU-wide restrictions on chemicals that pose significant risks.
Classification, Labelling, and Packaging (CLP): Ensures that hazardous chemicals are accurately classified and labelled.
Biocidal Products: Conducts evaluations to ensure the safe use and effectiveness of products like disinfectants, rodenticides, and wood preservatives.
Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs): Manages chemicals that present significant health risks and are persistent in the environment.
Support to Poison Centres: Provides assistance to facilitate rapid responses to chemical exposures.
Serious Cross-Border Threats: Contributes to rapid risk assessments for health threats involving chemicals.
Drinking Water Legislation: Ensures that substances used in materials that come into contact with water do not pose health risks.
Water Protection Legislation: ECHA is set to contribute to water protection efforts by identifying priority substances and pollutants, creating environmental quality standards, and developing monitoring watch lists.

ECHA's Contributions to the One Health Agenda

Through its work on chemical safety and collaboration with other organizations, ECHA significantly contributes to the One Health agenda. Here are some examples of ECHA’s activities in this context:

Joint Azole Fungicides Investigation: In collaboration with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), European Environment Agency (EEA), European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), and the European Medicines Agency (EMA), ECHA studies how azole fungicides contribute to the development of azole-resistant Aspergillus fumigatus, which is a growing concern for both agriculture and human health.
Microplastics Restriction: ECHA addresses microplastics’ contamination of water sources and its impacts on ecosystems, wildlife, and human health by assessing risks and working with stakeholders on restrictions or bans.
One Substance-One Assessment Approach: ECHA collaborates with various EU agencies to ensure that each substance is assessed consistently and comprehensively across different regulatory frameworks, preventing duplicative efforts and conflicting conclusions.
Chemical Indicators: ECHA works with EU agencies to develop indicators that assess the link between chemical pollution and environmental health, thereby informing policies that protect ecosystems and public health.
Research Needs: ECHA contributes to the EU-wide PARC (European Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals) project to enhance chemical risk assessment methods, ensuring health and environmental protection. In June 2024, ECHA published a report highlighting future research needs in key regulatory areas.

Collaborating with EU Agencies

To further support the One Health approach, ECHA, ECDC, EEA, EFSA, and EMA established a cross-agency collaboration task force in 2023. During the 2024-2026 period, this task force will work on implementing a framework for joint action.

The task force focuses on five strategic goals:

Strategic Coordination: Developing plans that strengthen inter-agency cooperation,
Research Coordination: Advancing collaborative research projects,
Capacity Building: Increasing knowledge and resource capacity,
Stakeholder Engagement: Involving communities and relevant stakeholders in the process,
Joint Activities and Inter-Agency Efforts: Ensuring that scientific advice is presented in an integrated manner and creating a unified voice for the One Health agenda in the EU.

With stronger scientific foundations, this collaboration aims to enhance the agencies’ contribution to the One Health initiative and work towards a healthier, more sustainable future.

ECHA