A/HRC/30/40 should be available, accessible and functional for everyone, consistent with the principle of non-discrimination. 97. People have a right to know whether they are being exposed to hazardous substances. Yet, whether on consumer products or food, information is not available or accessible. Over the past several decades, tens of thousands of different hazardous substances have been used by businesses with inadequate information on their properties and uses, as well as their fate as waste, to assess their impacts on human rights. The right of victims to an effective remedy, the right to meaningful participation, the right not to be subject to experimentation without consent, the right to the highest attainable standard of health and several other human rights have all been frustrated by large information gaps throughout the life cycle of substances and wastes. 98. Today, information is neither available nor accessible about, inter alia, the safety of tens of thousands of chemicals on the market; the potential sources of exposure to substances with known and unknown hazards; the amount of human exposure to hazardous substances; and the impacts of exposure to a large number of hazardous substances starting from conception. 99. To protect human rights affected by hazardous substances, States are dutybound to generate, collect, assess and update information; effectively communicate such information, particularly to those disproportionately at risk of adverse impacts; to ensure confidentiality claims are legitimate; and to engage in international cooperation to ensure that foreign Governments have the information necessary to protect the rights of people in their territory. 100. In discharging their duty to conduct human rights due diligence, businesses are responsible for identifying and assessing the actual and potential impacts of hazardous substances and wastes, either through their own activities or as a result of their business relationships; to communicate information to other businesses, governments and the public effectively. 101. In the light of these observations, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations: (a) To ensure information is available: (i) States must generate, collect, assess and update information about the properties, uses, emissions and the fate of hazardous substances and wastes necessary for assessing actual and potential impacts on human rights, including the right to life and health; (ii) States should ensure that individuals and communities, especially those at risk of disproportionate impacts, have information about hazardous substances in their environment, bodies, food and consumer products, including the adverse effects that may result from exposure. Better use of biomonitoring information, in conjunction with disease registers, should be made, particularly for those at high risk of adverse impacts; (iii) Businesses should undertake robust human rights due diligence for actual and potential impacts of hazardous substances and wastes linked to their activities, including identifying and assessing adverse impacts that may result therefrom; (iv) Where States require businesses to help generate, collect, assess and update information about hazardous substances and wastes, they must ensure that adequate and appropriate mechanisms are in place to ensure the integrity 21