Chemical Data Management System risk assessment

Corporate management systems in the areas of environmental protection, employee protection and consumer protection should be integrated further to avoid a shift in risks and also to save costs. All areas require reliable and systematic data about substance properties and application-related exposure. Mechanisms are also required for effective dialogue along the supply chain as well as between companies and authorities. In addition, the comparative assessment of chemical products (for example, in purchasing or in product development) can only be done intelligently if all essential risk areas are included in the evaluation. 

REACH has provided a structure in which a well-informed chemicals risk management can be developed. In particular, it creates a legislative and regulatory framework for all substances in which the procurement of data for making reasonably reliable risk assessment is possible. But on the other hand, as we have seen, it does not require the creation of such data for all substances for which it is needed. This should be no surprise. The deficiencies in the previous system of chemicals regulation were so large that it would be unrealistic to believe that they could be solved in one single reform. It is only to be expected that there should be scope for improvement. A discussion is needed that identifies the most important of the potential improvements of the system, and in this spirit we would like to propose three important issues for the further development of REACH. 

The patchwork of laws described above had several shortcomings, among them the limited availability of data for the bulk of chemicals in commerce and the schemes for risk assessment and promulgation of risk management measures [92]. Europa, the official website for the European Union, describes the results of these shortcomings "[T]he previous system often proved itself to be incapable of identifying risks posed by many chemicals and was slow to act when risks were identified" [93]. 

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