Toxic Substances and REACH

The report provides a comprehensive evaluation of national and European environmental policies covering 2004 to 2008. Key sections of the SRU report dealing with German national environmental policy approaches are being made available in English in a series of volumes.

The translation of the third volume is now complete and will be of interest to policy makers and practitioners interested in chemicals policy. The volume covers risk assessment and regulatory evaluation, focusing on selected chemical substances. The first two chapters analyse the possible adverse environmental and health effects of manufactured nanomaterials and brominated flame retardants and makes recommendations for risk reduction measures.

In the third chapter, the entry into force of the European Chemicals Regulation REACH is taken as an occasion to describe the basic structures of this new regulation and to acknowledge the opportunities it provides to improve chemical safety. Nevertheless, the SRU warns that capacity problems at the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and in the Member States may arise and these could weaken the implementation of REACH. The final two chapters examine the existing and planned regulations for pesticides and for mercury. The Council concludes in both cases that the efficacy of the regulation with regard to environmental protection is not sufficient and recommends additional measures.

Volume 3 can be downloaded at:
http://www.umweltrat.de/cae/servlet/contentblob/732840/publicationFile/
39378/2008_Environmental_Report_Vol_3_selected_chapters.pdf
The Advisory Council on the Environment (SRU) was founded in 1971 to advise the German government. The Council is made up of seven university professors from a range of different environment-related disciplines. This ensures an encompassing and independent evaluation from a natural scientific and technical as well as from an economic, legal, ethical and political science perspective.

The Council has currently the following members:

Prof. Dr. Martin Faulstich (Chair), Technische Universität München
Prof. Dr. Heidi Foth (Vice Chair), Universität Halle-Wittenberg
Prof. Dr. Christian Calliess, Freie Universität Berlin
Prof. Dr. Olav Hohmeyer, Universität Flensburg
Prof. Dr. Karin Holm-Müller, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
Prof. Dr. Manfred Niekisch, Zoologischer Garten Frankfurt
Prof. Dr. Miranda Schreurs, Freie Universität Berlin
For further information about the SRU, please consult: http://www.umweltrat.de (the english website will be available starting in October)or Dr. Christian Hey at 0049 (0) 30 26 36 96 0.

Media Contact

Christian Simon idw

More Information:

http://www.umweltrat.de

All latest news from the category: Life Sciences and Chemistry

Articles and reports from the Life Sciences and chemistry area deal with applied and basic research into modern biology, chemistry and human medicine.

Valuable information can be found on a range of life sciences fields including bacteriology, biochemistry, bionics, bioinformatics, biophysics, biotechnology, genetics, geobotany, human biology, marine biology, microbiology, molecular biology, cellular biology, zoology, bioinorganic chemistry, microchemistry and environmental chemistry.

Back to home

Comments (0)

Write a comment

Newest articles

Lighting up the future

New multidisciplinary research from the University of St Andrews could lead to more efficient televisions, computer screens and lighting. Researchers at the Organic Semiconductor Centre in the School of Physics and…

Researchers crack sugarcane’s complex genetic code

Sweet success: Scientists created a highly accurate reference genome for one of the most important modern crops and found a rare example of how genes confer disease resistance in plants….

Evolution of the most powerful ocean current on Earth

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current plays an important part in global overturning circulation, the exchange of heat and CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere, and the stability of Antarctica’s ice sheets….

Partners & Sponsors