EU backs strong law on chemicals

[RedEarth]

EU backs strong law on chemicals

An EU committee has endorsed tough new laws on chemicals, against the wishes of industry and European ministers.
The European Parliament's environment committee backed a law which would force companies to replace dangerous substances where safer ones exist.

Last year ministers from EU nations voted for a weaker version which would have merely "encouraged" substitution. Environmental groups have welcomed the decision but an industry group has warned of "pointless red tape".

The legislation, called Reach (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals) will oblige manufacturers to demonstrate that about 30,000 substances already in use are safe.

Chemicals used in household products such as computers, toys and detergents will be tested for their impact on health and the environment for the first time.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dumping8oct08,0,4957760.story?coll=la-home-headlines

..........now, compare what EU is doing to what the US does..from the LAT...

.S. Rules Allow the Sale of Products Others Ban
Chemical-laden goods outlawed in Europe and Japan are permitted in the American market.
By Marla Cone, Times Staff Writer
October 8, 2006


OAKLAND — Destined for American kitchens, planks of birch and poplar plywood are stacked to the ceiling of a cavernous port warehouse. The wood, which arrived in California via a cargo ship, carries two labels: One proclaims "Made in China," while the other warns that it contains formaldehyde, a cancer-causing chemical.

Because formaldehyde wafts off the glues in this plywood, it is illegal to sell in many countries — even the one where it originated, China. But in the United States this wood is legal, and it is routinely crafted into cabinets and furniture.

As the European Union and other nations have tightened their environmental standards, mostly in the last two years, manufacturers — here and around the world — are selling goods to American consumers that fail to meet other nations' stringent laws for toxic chemicals.

Wood, toys, electronics, pesticides and cosmetics are among U.S. products that contain substances that are banned or restricted elsewhere, particularly in Europe and Japan, because they may raise the risk of cancer, alter hormones or cause reproductive or neurological damage.

Michael Wilson, a professor at UC Berkeley's Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, said the United States is becoming a "dumping ground" for consumer goods that are unwanted and illegal in much of the world. Wilson warned earlier this year in a report commissioned by the California Legislature that "the United States has fallen behind globally in the move toward cleaner technologies."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dumping8oct08,0,4957760.story?coll=la-home-headlines