EU White Paper on Chemicals

EU White Paper on Chemicals Policy http //europa.eu.int.comm/environ-ment/chemicals/whitepaper.htm. 

The general public policy approach to technology, discussed in the previous chapter, can be seen in the attitudes of the UK government and the EU Commission towards synthetic chemicals. The UK government s chemicals strategy (DETR, 1999) and the European Commission White Paper on chemicals (CEC,... 

EES A. 2006. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) website. http /www.efsa.europa.eu EU. 2000. Communication from the Commission on the Precautionary Principle. Brussels, 2.02.2000, COM (2000) 1. http /ec.europa.eu/dgs/health consumer/library/pub/pub07 en.pdf EU. 2001. White Paper on the Strategy for a Future Chemicals Policy, http //ec.europa.eu/consumers/ cons safe/prod safe/other EU/chem policy en.htm... 

European Commission, White Paper on the Strategy for a Future Chemicals Policy, European Commission, Brassies, Belgium, 2002, available at europa.eu.int/comm/environment/chemicals/whitepaper.htm. 

European Commission, The White Paper on the strategy for a future Chemicals Policy, COM (2001) 88 final, 27 February 2001 (available at http //europa.eu.int/ comm/enterprise/chemicals/chempol/whitepaper/white-paper.htm). 

European Commission (2001) White Paper on Strategies for a Future Chemicals Policy , (online). 2001-02-27, http //europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/com/wpr/2001/com2001 0088en01.pdf, accessed at 2002-02-28. 

White paper on a strategy for a future EU Chemicals Policy... 

The EU White Paper policy on chemical (from 2001 ahead) wants to identify hazards of all chemicals on the market greater than 1 tone (EU-COM, 2008). In this respect, (Q)SARs methods have been found most useful for identifying these hazards to limit animal testing, since the current policy... 

On 13 February 2001 the European Commission adopted the much-discussed White Paper Strategy for a Future Chemicals Policy (a. 10). The current EU chemical control measures were considered to result in too great a disparity between new and existing substances, with the high cost of new substance notification stifling innovation. Furthermore, although existing substances account for >99% by volume of chemicals in commerce, they were considered to be relatively poorly assessed and controlled in comparison with new substances. 

This presentation discusses current EU chemical legislation and examines the shortcomings of some of the regulations in place with respect to dangerous chemicals. The Commission White Paper is discussed, and in particular, the REACH system which involves the registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemicals used in food-contact applications. The impact of the REACH system on food-contact plastic manufacturers is examined, with respect to suppliers of monomers and additives, plastic manufacturers, converters and packagers. 

On 29 October 2003, the Commission adopted a proposal for a new EU regulatory framework for chemicals, the so-called REACH (Registration, Evaluation, and Authorisation of CHemicals). This new regulatory framework achieved all the objectives identified in the White Paper (EU 2001) and thus represents a model of sustainable development by pursuing its three main goals economic (industrial competitiveness), social (health protection and jobs), and environmental. 

The White Paper recognized that certain chemicals may be having significant effects on the health of humans and wildlife and that there is a lack of knowledge about the impacts of many chemicals, described as a huge gap in knowledge of substances (CEC, 2001, p5). With respect to the EU risk assessment process, described as slow and resource-intensive (CEC, 2001, p6), the White Paper made the following specific criticisms ... 

The EU Commission White Paper (CEC, 2001) says that chemicals bring about benefits on which modern society is entirely dependent, for example in food production, medicines, textiles, cars, etc (CEC, 2001, p4). The EU trade surplus in chemicals and the number of people employed directly and indirectly by the EU chemicals industry are also counted as benefits. These ideas of what counts as a benefit are critically examined in Chapter 8. 

By focussing on filling the gaps in hazard data for chemicals on the EU market, the European Commission White Paper for a future EU Chemicals Strategy completely overlooked four fundamental questions, developed in Box 5.2. 

According to the European Commission s White Vapcr on the strategy for a fiiture chemicals policy, the global production of chemicals had increased fitim Imillion tonnes in 1930, to 400 million tones by die time the White Paper was published in 2001 (EC, 2001 4). The chemical industry in the EU produces about one third of total international chemical output and as such is collectively the largest chemical industry in the world, with an estimate turnover of some 556 billion in 2003 (for the EU 25 counteies) (CEFIC 2004). 

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