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24/09/2008
Public interest organisations recently released a list of "high concern" chemicals currently available on the market. The aim is to speed up implementation of REACH, the new EU chemicals law by encouraging companies to make sound substitution decisions.
In the first undertaking of its kind, an international coalition of non-governmental organisations have developed the so-called REACH SIN List 1.0 (for Substitute It Now!), containing nearly 300 chemicals such as the plastic building block Bisphenol A, the brominated flame retardant DecaBDE, and the phthalate DEHP.
On 18 September, this SIN List 1.0 was presented to more than 70 multinational companies at a high-profile conference in Brussels. Representatives from Sony-Ericsson, H&M and Dell described their efforts to identify and phase out the use of hazardous substances and the benefits to business.
Per Rosander, Director of ChemSec, the NGO at the centre of the SIN-project, explains: "The SIN List 1.0 is the first collaborative effort to identify substances that meet the official REACH criteria for authorisation. For chemicals that are carcinogenic, persistent, bioaccumulative, the time for precautionary action is now! Companies need to take a proactive approach to replace these known culprits with safer alternatives."
Through REACH, the 27 EU member states have jointly committed to establish a list of Substances of Very High Concern or SVHCs, i.e. chemicals that cause cancer, birth defects, and other serious health effects and which persist in the environment and accumulate in our bodies. However, so far Member States have nominated only 16 high concern chemicals in the official process.
The objective of the public interest organisations involved in developing the SIN List 1.0 is to push for strict implementation of EU chemical legislation, and to provide guidance to European authorities, companies and consumers for taking action on the listed chemicals.
Source: The International Chemical Secretariat (ChemSec)
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