Sabine Frey

SSBD Basel 2024 Speakers - Sabine Frey

Sabine Frey heads the Risk Assessment Section of the Chemicals Products Division at the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH). She studied biomedical sciences at the Universities of Fribourg and Bern, where she specialized in the toxicological effects of nanomaterials. She has completed further training as a toxicologist. This knowledge is applied in the toxicological assessment and risk management of chemicals, the main tasks of the risk assessment team of the FOPH.

Swiss Perspective on Safe and Sustainable-by-Design

Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD) is becoming the foundational concept to current European “green policies”. In Switzerland, SSbD is also an imported part of the Cross-departmental chemical safety strategy (FOPH, FOEN, FOAG, FSVO, SECO).

The implementation of these measures is supported, for example, by financing scientific projects and initiatives in the field of sustainable chemistry. Among other things, measures such as the promotion of best practices for the evaluation of chemical substituents and alternatives, the creation of an incentive system for the ‘safe-by-design’ approach in the innovation phase, and the substitution of substances with particularly hazardous properties are discussed.