EU deputies to call for
widespread chemicals tests
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Subject: 100,000 registered chemicals
Date: Wednesday, November 14, 2001 6:44 PM
From: Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
EU deputies to call for widespread chemicals tests
FRANCE: November 14, 2001
STRASBOURG, France - The European Parliament is expected to
call today for widespread testing of chemicals to assess their health and
environmental impact, a move likely to face opposition from the industry.
The parliament is likely to endorse a radical overhaul of
the bloc's policy on chemicals, paving the way for the European Commission to
present legislative proposals for the testing and labelling up to 30,000
substances in use today.
There are currently over 100,000 registered chemicals,
30,000 of which have an annual production of more than one tonne. But of these,
only 140 have been put on a priority list for testing and possible risk
reduction measures in the EU.
"We can't continue like this," Swedish deputy
Inger Schoerling, a member of the Green party and the key legislator and chief
proponent of the overhaul, told reporters yesterday.
"We need chemicals for our daily life, but chemicals
must be the subject of risk assessment in the future," he added.
Schoerling said increased consumer awareness through better
labelling of products was also a priority.
European Union leaders pledged at a summit in Sweden
earlier this year to have a new pan-EU chemicals policy in place by 2004.
World production of chemicals has shot up to 400 million
tonnes from near one million in 1930, a Parliament report said.
The European consumers association, BEUC, said the average
hair spray contained 15 chemical substances, most of which had a potentially
harmful effect on health or the environment.
"It is essential that product labels clearly indicate
their chemical make-up, so that consumers can choose healthier and
environmentally friendly products," BEUC said in a statement.
But Europe's chemicals industry, particularly in Germany,
strongly opposes any move towards wider testing, saying it would be costly and
hurt smaller firms.
Although the parliament is expected to support Schoerling's
report on future chemicals policies, the European conservatives, the biggest
party in the assembly, are likely to back a number of amendments that would
limit future testing to substances with an annual production of more than one
tonne.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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