Green Technology: SIRIM lab first to achieve international safety standards

SIRIM Berhad’s Environmental Technology Research Centre recently achieved its goal of being certified as an OECD-GLP–compliant lab, which is an international recognition of its quality management controls.

It was the first research laboratory in Malaysia to achieve this recognition from two competent monitoring authorities – the Bureau of Pharmaceutical Control and Standards Malaysia.

GLP (good laboratory practice) is a quality system that ensures non-clinical health and environmental safety studies, and is conducted with a high degree of consistency and reliability that safeguard data integrity, reliability, transparency and traceability.

The OECD-GLP certification is awarded by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which assists governments with tackling challenges of a globalised economy.

With today’s comprehensive global trade lines, these are important factors to ensure that laboratory studies and results are accepted, especially in OECD member countries, which are the major export markets for Malaysia, says Dr Chen Sau Soon, Senior General Manager of the Environmental Technology Research Centre.

“Going through the OECD-GLP assessment process was demanding and certainly stressful,” says Dr Chen. The lab staff did not really have to change their practices in as much as their practical work; the challenge was in putting in place organisational processes that stringently monitor the planning, performing, monitoring, recording, archiving and reporting of GLP – compliant studies.

The GLP facility at SIRIM will help local producers acquire the necessary product safety data needed to access into OECD markets, and this will certainly help to bring the economy’s green technology endeavours to the next level.

Enhancing environmental health

Environmental toxicology is the study of the toxic effect of chemicals on living organisms within a defined ecosystem in air, water and land.

The growing awareness on environmental health has made toxicological studies imperative to ensure products manufactured by industries and used by consumers do not harm our environment.

SIRIM can evaluate health and environmental effects of industrial and consumer products and wastes through:

• ecotoxicology

• genotoxicology; and

• environmental fate analysis

The studies are conducted in compliance to OECD Good Laboratory Practice (GLP), adhering to internationally accepted principles for the purpose of regulatory requirement and product development.

Green Technology: SIRIM lab first to achieve international safety standards

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