ERROR 1
ERROR 1
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
Password and Confirm password must match.
If you have an ACS member number, please enter it here so we can link this account to your membership. (optional)
ERROR 2
ACS values your privacy. By submitting your information, you are gaining access to C&EN and subscribing to our weekly newsletter. We use the information you provide to make your reading experience better, and we will never sell your data to third party members.
Chemical manufacturers and importers have failed to supply all required safety information for some substances when registering them for use in the European Union during the past decade, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) says.
Most of the missing data was related to reproductive and prenatal developmental toxicity, mutagenicity or genotoxicity, and long-term aquatic toxicity, ECHA says in a Feb. 28 report. Since the agency began operating in 2008, ECHA has sent nearly 2,600 requests to companies asking them to furnish additional information that is required by the EU’s Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation & Restriction of Chemicals law, known as REACH. In 2017, ECHA checked 222 registration documents, most of them regarding chemicals that raised concerns about their possible toxicity and with potential for widespread exposure. The agency ended up asking for more information about 151 of these substances, saying that the missing data were essential to demonstrate safe uses of the materials, according to the report.
“We will continue our efforts to ensure that industry has the data they need to safely use their substances. This also improves safety for consumers,” says Bjorn Hansen, ECHA executive director.
As of the end of 2017, some 12,000 companies had registered more than 17,000 unique chemicals under REACH, the report says. All substances that are manufactured in or imported into the EU in amounts greater than 1 metric ton per year must be registered under REACH by May 31.
Join the conversation
Contact the reporter
Submit a Letter to the Editor for publication
Engage with us on Twitter