2002
Chemicals Management Media Reports Archives:
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2003
DECEMBER 2002
EU TO
WITHDRAW 320 PESTICIDES IN JULY 2003
Some
320 substances used in plant protection products – including insecticides,
fungicides and herbicides – are to be withdrawn from the European market
by 25 July 2003. This recent regulation comes as part of the European
Commission's new approach to the evaluation of active substances in plant
protection products, which aims to improve safeguards to ensure that all
such products in use are safe for the environment and human health. Users,
wholesalers and retailers of plant protection products will need to be
aware of whether the products they use or sell are likely to be withdrawn,
so as to prevent them being left with stocks of unusable material.
Link to further information
The
Regulation, with the list of the abovementioned 320 substances, is
available online at
http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/oj/2002/l_31920021123en.html
PROGRESS MADE ON NEW
RIGHT-TO-KNOW TREATY ON POLLUTION
At a meeting hosted by the UN Economic Commission for Europe, in Geneva
from 25-29 November 2002, progress was made in drafting
a new UN treaty that
will strengthen public access to information on pollution. The treaty –
which will be a protocol to the UNECE Convention on Access to
Information, Public Participation in Decision-making
and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters
(the Ǻarhus Convention) – will make it
easier for the public to find information about pollution and its sources
through a mandatory system of reporting by companies.
Under the protocol,
countries will have to set up national pollution inventories, known as
pollutant release and transfer registers (PRTRs). These inventories will
require polluting companies to provide information on releases of certain
polluting substances, such as greenhouse gases, dioxins and heavy metals,
to a national register accessible and searchable through the Internet.
Such registers are already in place in a number of countries, including
for example in the US in the form of the Toxic Release Inventory.
At the meeting,
negotiators agreed upon the main features of the PRTR system, which would
effectively establish internationally recognized minimum standards for
PRTRs. These include lists of specific pollutants and polluting
activities, and ensuring public access to the data on the register. The
protocol will initially focus on information on pollution from large
industrial facilities, but negotiators have opened the door to extending
the registers to include more diffuse sources, such as pollution from
traffic to air and pollution from agriculture to water. The instrument
will encourage though not oblige links being made to other types of
information, including on genetically modified organisms, radioactive
substances, pollutants in products and elements of resource use such as
energy and water consumption.
It had
already been decided that the protocol should be open to all countries,
including those that are not Parties to the parent-Convention and those
that are not members of UNECE. NGOs have been critical of the role of
the
EU
for allegedly blocking
more
stringent rules, while praising the US and Canada
both of whom already have extensive inventories in place. The US
delegation withdrew from the talks while they were in progress, reportedly
in protest at the EU's resistance to more progressive proposals.
A meeting
has been scheduled for 27-31 January 2003 to address the remaining
contentious issues. The negotiators are under pressure to finalize the
protocol swiftly, as it is expected to be ready for adoption by UNECE
Environment Ministers when they meet at the fifth "Environment for Europe"
Conference in Kiev in May 2003.
Links
to further information
Ǻarhus
Convention UNECE Environment and Human Settlements Division
http://www.unece.org/env/pp/
NOVEMBER 2002
BUSH URGED TO
'CEASE AND DESIST' UNDERMINING CHEMICALS REFORM
Various
environmental, public health, and labor groups in the US have joined
forces to denounce the US government's efforts to derail proposed
chemicals policy reforms underway in the EU. In an open letter to
President Bush, more than 50 organizations applauded EU efforts to protect
against hazardous chemicals and countered the Bush Administration's claims
that the legislation would be bad for US business. The European Commission
has proposed a new chemicals policy called REACH (Registration, Evaluation
and Authorisation of Chemicals) to address current gaps in public health
and environmental protection against chemicals. The proposals would shift
the burden of proof on industry by requiring adequate scientific data as a
precondition for selling chemicals – and products – and includes a
mechanism for systematically eliminating the most hazardous chemicals in
favor of safer alternatives. The Bush Administration has disseminated
documents critical of the EU reform proposals, claiming that cost of
increased scrutiny would burden US businesses and hinder competitiveness.
The public interest groups maintain that the cost of reforms is minuscule
compared to billions spent on health care, pollution control, and clean-up
from chemical contamination.
Links to further
information
Friends of the Earth Press Release, 11 November 2002
http://www.foe.co.uk/pubsinfo/infoteam/pressrel/2002/20021112113704.html
EU IDENTIFIES
PERSISTENT AND BIO-ACCUMULATIVE CHEMICALS
The European
Chemicals Bureau (ECB) has produced a first list of persistent and
bio-accumulative substances that may eventually be classified as chemicals
of high concern, requiring authorization in terms of the EU's new REACH
(Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals) policy. Details
of the list are provided in the most recent issue of the ECB's newsletter,
though the specific substances on it have not yet been identified. Bureau
officials have reported that a definitive version will be published
following consultation with industry. The list identifies 125 substances
from almost 2,700 high production volume chemicals that are registered in
the EU. All are either environmentally persistent, bio-accumulative and
toxic (PBTs), or are very persistent and very bio-accumulative without
necessarily being toxic (vPvBs). How PBTs and vPvBs should be handled
under REACH is one of the key issues being debated within the European
Commission, as it prepares legislation for a new EU chemicals policy.
Link to further
information
European Chemicals
Bureau
http://ecb.jrc.it/
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