"Denmark urges EU shake-up on 'chemical cocktails'"
Need for cumulative risk assessment (CRA) on European scale confirmed by report of expert workshop commissioned by Danish ministry.
20.06.2009 |Chemicals workinggroup
"The EU should take "serious consideration" of the combined "cocktail" effect
of certain chemicals in European legislation, Danish environment minister Troels Lund Poulsen said on Wednesday.
Echoing some of the arguments heard at a REACH stakeholder meeting in Helsinki last month (EE 28/05/09), Mr Poulsen said the need for cumulative risk assessment (CRA) on a European scale had been confirmed by the report of an expert workshop commissioned by the ministry. The panel's remit was to "examine existing scientific knowledge on combination effects of endocrine disrupters, with a focus on regulatory aspects", including "the state of the science of mixtures risk assessment for endocrine disrupters, and... the feasibility of approaches to cumulative risk assessment".
Mr Poulsen asked the Danish environmental protection agency (EPA) to take immediate steps to implement some of the measures recommended in the report.
"But it is very important that we also find a collective solution in the EU to protect the consumers", he added.
According to the report, US rules such as the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) and Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) are examples of essential legislation for implementing CRA.
However, with the exception of recent changes in EU pesticide regulations, "legal frameworks that clearly address CRA do not currently exist in Europe", the report continues. Even in REACH, "CRA for multiple chemicals from multiple sources, routes and pathways is only addressed to a very limited extent in the current guidance".
It is "essential to assess the scope of existing laws and guidance in order to better define whether existing regulation can be amended to accommodate CRA, or whether tailor-made regulations need to be developed," the report concludes.
The report will be submitted to environment commissioner Stavros Dimas and EU environment ministers ahead of a ministerial meeting in Luxembourg on 25 June (EE 05/06/09), according to the Danish environment ministry.
Chemicals workinggroup
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