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 Chemistry and Human Health Division (VII)

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Summary of Minutes of Division Committee Meeting at IUPAC General Assembly, Berlin, Germany, 10 August 1999

Division President Prof. Camille-Georges Wermuth chaired the meeting and welcomed the 13 participants, comprising members of the Sections of Medicinal Chemistry and Clinical Chemistry and their commissions. Recent discussions and decisions that had taken place during the General Assembly (GA) meetings in Berlin- especially the strategic plan to restructure IUPAC-were discussed, including the new project evaluation process. Main criteria of the evaluation will be usefulness according to the strategic plan, improvement of the image of IUPAC, and maintenance of a high scientific standard.

Deliberations during the GA yielded several new projects within the Division, which should be submitted at the earliest convenience and completed within the next two years.

The Section on Medicinal Chemistry presented the following projects:

  • "Natural and unnatural substances". This publication addresses scientists, laymen, and the press. It is intended to make the public more aware of the similarities between natural and synthetic compounds and the health risks associated with natural and herbal remedies, vitamins, nutrients, etc.
  • "Database of drug metabolites for individualized drug treatment". This project involves cooperation with ICSU and coordination by IUPHAR.
  • "Compendium of glossaries" and "Compendium of nutraceuticals" (Coordinator, Dr. Mukund S. Chorghade).

The Section on Clinical Chemistry discussed the following proposals:

  • "Recommendation on nanotechnology in the clinical laboratory".
  • "Recommendations on quality management, practices, and procedures for decentralized clinical measurements".
  • "Database on chemical disasters and hazards. Measurements and markers in exposed people as part of a global network". This database shall serve as an ongoing reporting system for detection, identification, and monitoring of the effects of industrial chemical waste on human health. The project is to provide recommendations for procedures to be used for collection and analysis of samples and reporting of the impact of studies. It should be developed in association with WHO.

The Commission on Nomenclature, Properties, and Units (VII.C.1) has eight ongoing projects to be finished before 2001 and proposed three new projects. The Commission on Toxicology (VII C.2) will continue with three ongoing projects and presented proposals for seven new projects, which have been generated during this GA, partly through interdivisional discussions. President Prof. Wermuth called for early distribution of project applications and emphasized the need for new input and activities and projects directed toward chemistry and human health. According to the IUPAC strategic plan, most of the commissions will be dissolved and the work will be done by project teams, with extra input and expertise from outside of IUPAC. Some commissions, however, may continue; the Commission on Nomenclature, Properties, and Units might be a candidate. Decisions will be made in 2001; until then, ongoing projects will continue under the old system, and new ones will be initiated under the new system.

It was agreed to maintain the working structure of the Division, with two sections and the existing commissions, but to integrate the disciplines more into the future global structure of the Division of Chemistry and Human Health. The positions of president and secretary for the Sections and Commissions were filled, but four positions for Titular Members (TM) were left open for new members in order to broaden the aspects of chemistry and human health beyond medicinal and clinical chemistry and to encourage input from other fields related to human health.

A subsequent Division Meeting was held in Brussels, 10-11 March 2000.

Birger Heinzow
Secretary, IUPAC Chemistry and Human Health Division Committee

> Published in Chem. Int. 22(6), 2000


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