Replace riskiest chemicals with safer, ministers told

摘要

A rift appears to be forming between the EU's environment ministers over whether the bloc's future chemicals regulatory regime should be firmly based on the replacement of hazardous chemicals with less dangerous ones, it has emerged. After discussions at the June 28 Environment Council in Luxembourg on the proposed regulation on the registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemicals (REACH), officials implied that two main factions were taking shape. One, which includes the Scandinavian countries, is strongly in favour of a strong policy on substituting harmful substances or technology to protect people's health and the environment.