EU gets tough on issue of testing chemicals

LESS than 1% of Europe’s most-used chemicals are tested to see if they are safe for humans and for the environment.

Now the European Commission has launched a plan that will ensure these 30,000 chemicals are registered and tested before going on the market.

Launching the proposals for the radical new chemicals regulation system in Brussels yesterday, Commissioner Margot Wallstroem said it was time to stop the testing of chemicals on unsuspecting humans.

The new regime was welcomed by most environmental groups while the industry that employs 1.5 million in Europe warned it would cost too much and result in job losses.

Ireland’s pharmaceutical industry, which employs 20,000 people and accounts for 30bn in exports each year, should not be affected by the new rules. However, much of the chemical sector employing 4,000 will be.

Ms Wallstroem said it was time to reform the industry that made products, from paints to detergents. Higher standards were needed for chemicals suspected of causing cancer or damaging the human immune system.

“Everywhere there is an increasing incidence of allergies, cancers, reproductive problems and growing levels of harmful substances accumulating in human tissue and in the environment,” she said.

The existing system was slow, inefficient and did not guarantee safety. There was also a lack of information with companies refusing to tell the chemical composition of products.

“We want a more balanced approach. Modern society needs chemicals but needs to know the risks. We shift the burden of proof, we focus on chemicals in high volumes and high risks,” Ms Wallstroem said.

It would be up to the industry to show that the chemicals and products were safe.

Most chemicals, including polymers and those produced in quantities of less than one tonne, would be exempt with just the most hazardous of substances being registered with a special agency.

She estimated testing of the rest would cost the industry about €4bn between now and 2020.

The system, known as REACH, would be phased in over 11 years.

However, environmental groups such as Friends of the Earth and the World Wildlife Fund accused the commission of giving in to intense lobbying by the chemicals industry and the US.

As a result, the draft legislation does not ban the 1,500 most toxic chemicals, would allow manufacturers to keep product data secret and allow imports to contain untested substances.

Over the next eight weeks the commission wants reaction from the public and industry.