Regulating chemical accumulation an integrated approach

The EU s approach to the resolution of this dilemma to date has been to do some of each. It has allowed the individual states to select the measures required to meet the directive s standards, in order to allow for cost-effective implementation based upon local conditions (Faure and Lefevre, Chapter 10, this volume). It has also relaxed the cocktail standard for aggregate accumulation, in order to allow for the already observed additional accumulation of chemicals in groundwater sources. 

How can it be the case that such strong policy measures have so little impact It is the object of this volume to explain this commdrum. We hope to demonstrate both the reasons for the inefficacy of existing policies and the essence of an effective approach to regulating chemical accumulation. The remainder of this chapter provides an overview of our approach, and an indication of our conclusions. 1 recommend that the interested reader read each of the individual chapters to acquire the full story on chemical accumulation and its regulation. 

Part I of the volume presents two chapters which attempt to dissemble the problematic pesticide into its constituent components. This allows the ensuing discussion to pursue the subject at a more fundamental level. It is not the chemical nature of the products that is problematic nor their widespread use per se, rather it is the specific characteristics of certain chemical products that gives rise to their accumulative nature. Part I of this volume identifies these characteristics, and sets forth an analysis that ascertains their relative contribution to a chemical s use and usefulness. This analysis will then be helpful later in the unravelling of the nature of the policy failures in this area, but initially it provides an excellent introduction to the nature of problematic chemical substances in general and of atrazine (and its substitute substances) in particular. 

Of course both water affinity and persistence are in-built characteristics of useful chemicals. Water affinity provides the substance with its transport vector - to take it where it needs to be. Persistence reduces the need for 

Part III of this volume concerns the failings of the existing systems of regulation regarding accumulative chemical substances. The first issue discussed is whether markets will fail to generate the correct characteristics 

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