Friday 31 October 2003

The publication of the draft law should enable society to reduce the risk to wildlife and humans from harmful chemicals by identifying and phasing out some of the worst examples. However, WWF believes that the European Commission has weakened the policy considerably as a result of persistent and misleading lobbying from the chemicals industry. WWF urges both the European Parliament and EU Ministers to improve the law by:

• closing a loophole that would allow industry to continue to use chemicals of 'very high concern' such as those that cause cancer (carcinogens) and chemicals that accumulate in our bodies and those of wildlife (that are very persistent and very bioaccumulative) even when safer alternatives are available;
• increasing the amount of safety information required for chemicals produced in quantities of between one and ten tonnes (two thirds of all the 30,000 or so chemicals on the market);
• ensuring that imported goods meet the same safety standards as those produced within the European Union, otherwise imported goods could lead to the exposure of wildlife and consumers to chemicals with unknown hazards;
• providing increased information to consumers, downstream users and NGOs about the production, use and safety of chemicals;
• introducing one registration per chemical, to both enable business to save costs by sharing safety information, and to ensure that there is no duplication of testing.

"The EU Commission has buckled under the chemical industry's self-interested scaremongering and delivered a weakened draft law. This flies in the face of independent experts who have called for the immediate removal of chemicals that build up in our bodies," said Justin Woolford, WWF Chemical Campaign Leader. "The EU parliament and the Council of European Ministers must act to toughen up the proposed legislation or condemn our children to living with the spectre of chemical contamination."