Hazardous drugs in health care: NIOSH extends comment period on draft documents

Washington — NIOSH has extended until July 30 the comment period on three draft documents pertaining to hazardous drugs in health care.

The documents are the “NIOSH List of Hazardous Drugs in Healthcare Settings,” “Managing Hazardous Drug Exposures: Information for Healthcare Settings” and “Procedures for Developing the NIOSH List of Hazardous Drugs in Healthcare Settings.”

According to the notice published in the June 19 Federal Register, NIOSH is asking users of the list to name the unique ingredient identifier they find most useful. It adds that because of conflicting evidence on the hazard posed by botulinum toxins to workers who handle these drugs, NIOSH is not proposing to place the toxins on the list at this time. The agency invites additional studies, data and expert opinions pertinent to this issue to evaluate botulinum toxins more fully.

NIOSH states on its website that about 8 million U.S. health care workers are potentially exposed to hazardous drugs, including pharmacy and nursing personnel, physicians, operating room personnel, environmental services workers, workers in research laboratories, veterinary care workers, and shipping and receiving personnel.