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Leading Japanese citizens organizations have teamed up to show their support for European Union chemical law reform and to ask the Japanese government to stop interfering in the adoption of REACH, the new EU chemical regulation. In their Tokyo Declaration, the eight organizations, including WWF Japan, endorsed the EU’s REACH initiative, asking the Japanese government to conduct a "comprehensive revision of Japan’s system for the regulation of chemicals".
The organizations note that the Japanese government is currently making no effort to revise existing chemical regulation, but is "joining hands with America in an effort to weaken REACH."
The Declaration urges the EU "to steadfastly implement REACH without compromising its original purpose of ensuring a high level of safety with respect to both human health and the natural environment". The Japanese citizens organizations note that the EU is leading the world in implementing the 1992 Earth Summit agreement, and that national governements should adopt a precautionary approach to chemical management. "There was strong support for the Declaration among those attending yesterday’s seminar in Tokyo," said Yukio Murata of WWF Japan. "More citizen groups and individuals will adopt it in the following month."
The Japanese initiative follows major efforts by US organizations -including several US Senators- to stop the US administration from lobbying against REACH. However, there are signs from the European Parliament that relentless anti-REACH lobbying is beginning to be counter productive.
The eight organizations include: WWF Japan, Japan Occupational Health Care Centre, Greenpeace Japan, Organization for Research and Communication on Environmental Risk of Chemicals, Global Asbestos Congress 2004 Organising Committee, Toxic Watch Network, Citizens Against Chemical Pollution, and People’s Association on Countermeasures to Dioxin and Endrocrine Disruptors.
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