The number of existing natural and man-made chemicals and their compounds is very large, and for many of them the health risks are not known. Chemicals can be the result of anthropogenic sources or occur in nature. Hazardous chemicals can reach our body through different routes and cause a variety of health effects. The public health relevance of chemicals can be extremely difficult to assess due to the many ways in which chemicals are used and released, the many exposure routes involved, and the different mixtures of chemicals present (source: WHO).
Fortuantely for those living in Europe, the European Union has made serious efforts in ensuring that safety of chemical substances is assessed before they enter the market. A number of new laws in the European Union require companies to demonstrate that a chemical is safe before it enters commerce -- the opposite of policies in the United States, where regulators must prove that a chemical is harmful before it can be restricted or removed from the market.
In the mid-nineties, the increased insight in the possible negative effect of chemicals led to the awareness, that the EU legislation then in force did not and could not provide sufficient information about chemicals to judge scientifically. The EU was on an unsustainable course in the chemicals sector.
In the mid-nineties, the increased insight in the possible negative effect of chemicals led to the awareness, that the EU legislation then in force did not and could not provide sufficient information about chemicals to judge scientifically. The EU was on an unsustainable course in the chemicals sector.
Starting in the late nineties and causing considerable debate, a new horizontal chemicals legislation was developed, and in 2007, REACH entered into force. REACH is the European Community Regulation on chemicals and their safe use (EC 1907/2006). It deals with the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances. The law entered into force on 1 June 2007.
REACH’s primary aim is “to ensure a high level of protection of human health and the environment”. In the coming decade, REACH will place the burden of proof on industry, which has to collect or generate the data necessary to ensure the safe use of chemicals. This data will be publicly available through the central database held at the European Chemicals Agency and will help to close the current information gap on chemicals. REACH also provides rules for phasing out and substitution of the most dangerous chemicals. REACH is complemented by the new Regulation for Classification, Labelling and Packaging of Substances and Mixtures (CLP Regulation, January 2009). It is based on the principle that the same hazards should be described and labelled in the same way all around the world.
One of the main reasons for developing and adopting the REACH Regulation was that a large number of substances have been manufactured and placed on the market in Europe for many years, sometimes in very high amounts, and yet there is insufficient information on the hazards that they pose to human health and the environment. There is a need to fill these information gaps to ensure that industry is able to assess hazards and risks of the substances, and to identify and implement the risk management measures to protect humans and the environment (source: European Commission).
A word of advice: precaution is the best strategy.
