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Union's Identify Hazardous Chemicals For Tighter Control Under REACH

Unions are calling for hundreds of the most hazardous workplace chemicals to be subject to tight control under the European Union's chemicals law, REACH. The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) this week presented to the European Parliament its list of priority chemicals for authorisation under REACH.

Download brochure hereUsing the REACH definition, the union body has identified 306 'substances of very high concern' (SVHC).

It says it is especially concerned about the 191 substances that cause recognised occupational diseases, and says all should be subject to authorisation under the REACH rules. The list includes carcinogens, mutagens and reprotoxins and other persistent and highly toxic chemicals. ETUC says its research has established about one in three of the new cases of occupational disease recognised each year in Europe is the result of exposures to hazardous substances.

It says it "aims to contribute to the practical implementation of REACH - the new EU law on trade in chemicals - and to the authorisation procedure in particular. The idea of authorisation under REACH is to identify the most hazardous chemicals currently on the European market, control risks arising from their use and replace them with safer alternatives."

ETUC confederal secretary Joël Decaillon commented: "Only if the most dangerous chemicals currently on the market are replaced at the earliest opportunity by safer alternatives will the fight for innovation and competitiveness be won, bringing more and better jobs with it."

TUC head of safety, Hugh Robertson, is backing the ETUC initiative.

He said TUC said British trade unions "....applaud the work of the ETUC in drawing up a list of priority chemicals that must be considered at the earliest possible date under the new European chemicals regulation, REACH. Many of these chemicals have no place in the workplace at all and are amongst the most dangerous to workers, including a number of carcinogens. The TUC has already called for much higher awareness of cancer-causing chemicals and said that no worker should ever be exposed to any known carcinogen."

Source: TUC Risks

Go to the ETUC website and download full details of chemical listings here


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