25 Oct
2006 - After more than three years of discussions,
EU governments and the European Parliament are
entering the final negotiations to adopt a new
European legislation on chemicals, REACH. Hazardous
chemicals can currently be used in many industrial
processes and in many consumer products, even
when safer alternatives exist. This situation
puts EU citizens and wildlife at unnecessary risk.
WWF believes this situation should not be allowed
to continue: “A toxic Europe? No thank you!”
If suitably strengthened, REACH
will provide a mechanism to identify and phase
out the most harmful chemicals and replace them
with safer alternatives wherever available. This
is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the EU
to secure safer chemicals for our children and
wildlife.
A large majority of Members
of the European Parliament has supported this
approach in the two key votes on REACH. The Council
of Ministers however, has repeatedly ignored this
demand from the Parliament and thus from European
citizens.
As the European Council position
currently stands it will allow some carcinogens
and chemicals that are toxic to reproduction and
hormone-disrupting substances to stay on the market,
even if safer alternatives exist. This gives no
guarantee for an effective improvement compared
to the current EU chemicals policy.
With this “toxic flag” as a
warning, WWF is calling on European governments
to fully endorse the substitution principle for
all the most hazardous chemicals. Other key improvements
adopted by the European Parliament, such as making
chemical producers responsible for the safety
of their products and ensuring more information
is available about chemicals in everyday products,
also need to be endorsed.
WWF believes this is key to
ensure that REACH will effectively guarantee safer
chemicals in Europe and stimulate innovation in
the European economy. This is an opportunity no
one can afford to miss.
WWF is sending this message
to all environment and competitiveness ministers
as well as to European Commissioners.
