EU PASSES SWEEPING CHEMICAL REFORM: INDUSTRY MUST
SHARE HEALTH AND SAFETY DATA ON THOUSANDS OF CHEMICALS
For Immediate Release:
December 13, 2006
Contact: Beverley Thorpe, Clean Production Action,
+1 514 933 4596, bev@cleanproduction.org
Daryl Ditz, Ph.D., Center for International Environmental Law, + 1 202
785 8700, dditz@ciel.org
December 13, 2006 -- After
years of heated controversy, including concerted lobbying efforts to weaken the
legislation by top officials of the Bush
Administration and the chemical industry, the European Parliament today gave
final approval to a sweeping reform that will force companies to gather health
and safety data on thousands of chemicals used in everyday commerce, including
those chemicals currently on the market with no information. Though the
legislation was weakened by an unprecedented lobbying campaign, the core pieces
of the legislation remain intact and represent a major shift in chemicals
control.
“The EU has taken a major
step toward reforming an outdated chemical regulatory system that has massively
failed in its objective to protect public health. When one in three people
contract cancer in their lifetime, we need to stop using known and suspected
cancer-causing chemicals in commerce. The same goes for chemicals that are now
accumulating in our children's bodies,” said Bev Thorpe, director of Clean
Production Action.
The REACH (for
Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals) legislation agreed to
today will require chemical companies to share health and safety information
about their chemicals with downstream users (such as electronics and cosmetics
industries) and the public. A few thousand of the most hazardous
chemicals will require formal authorization providing a stronger incentive to
substitute them with safer alternatives. Some of the most dangerous
chemicals – such as those that are very persistent and those that accumulate up
the food chain – will not be allowed if safer substitutes are available. If
substitutes are not available, chemical makers will be forced to draw up a
substitution research and adoption plan.
“REACH is the world’s most ambitious attempt to eliminate the dangers
of untested, unregulated chemicals that are found at work, in our homes and in
our bodies. To protect the health of Americans and the competitiveness of US
companies, we must now overhaul our own laws on toxic chemicals," said
Daryl Ditz, senior policy advisor at the Center for International Environmental
Law.
He said the US is already
falling behind in the global shift toward safer, non-toxic products. As one example,
toxic toys containing phthalates, which are linked to permanent birth defects
in the male reproductive system, were banned years ago in the EU, but are still
on US shelves. The city of San Francisco recently banned phthalate-containing
toys and is now being sued by the chemical industry.
REACH is expected to enter
into force in April 2007 and will roll out in stages over the next
eleven or more years. US environmental groups have listed their demands
for chemicals policy reform which is available at www.louisvillecharter.org.
Several states are moving ahead with chemical policy reform and a bill has been
introduced at the national level as well, the Kids Safe Chemicals Act.
For more information about REACH:
Statement by the Center
for International Environmental law on the basics of the REACH deal: http://www.ciel.org/Chemicals/Reach_1Dec06.html
For more information about
the REACH process visit: