Posted on December, 13 2006

Brussels, Belgium – After years of debate, European lawmakers adopted new chemical legislation that will oblige producers and importers of chemicals to prove that the substances they put on the EU market are safe for consumers.

According to WWF, the legislation, known as REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals), sets Europe on a modest step towards a new approach to chemicals regulation. Companies will now have to provide safety data for chemicals produced above 10 tonnes per year, and there is a mechanism for the substitution of persistent and bio-accumulative chemicals if safer alternatives exist. It also allows the public to request information about the presence of a limited number of hazardous chemicals in products.

“Our lobbying over the last five years, and the hundreds of blood tests we have undertaken, has really paid-off,” said Paul King, Director of Campaigns for WWF-UK.

“The EU is now insisting that chemicals that build-up in living organisms and those that linger in the environment for a long time will have to be replaced whenever safer alternatives are available.”

However, major loopholes in REACH will still allow many chemicals that can cause serious health problems, including cancer, birth defects and reproductive illnesses, to continue being used in manufacturing and consumer goods, according to WWF and other groups.

Further concessions exempt companies which import and manufacture chemicals in volumes below 10 tonnes a year — 60 per cent of chemicals covered by REACH — from the requirement to provide any meaningful safety data.

In addition, under REACH, many chemicals of “high concern” will be allowed onto the market if producers claim that they can “adequately” control them. But the claim that such chemicals can be adequately controlled has been refuted by numerous scientific studies, including tests undertaken by WWF on the blood of more than 350 people, which showed numerous toxic chemicals to be present in every sample.

“The loopholes and provisions for self-regulation contained in these measures leave REACH very vulnerable to further manipulation by the chemical industry,” said Sandra Jen, WWF's DetoX Campaign Director.

There is no guarantee, for example, that information from third parties about safer alternatives to hazardous chemicals will be considered in every case. The new Helsinki-based EU Chemicals Agency will have to be closely monitored to ensure that REACH can deliver.

“Without the necessary support, hazardous chemicals will continue to contaminate wildlife, our homes and our bodies, and REACH will prove a failure,” Jen added.

REACH is expected to enter into force in mid-2007.

For further information:
Noemi Cano, Communications Manager
WWF DetoX Campaign
Tel: +32 479 610451