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ECHA proposes not approving 4 silver compounds in FCMs

European Chemicals Agency’s (ECHA) Biocidal Products Committee (BPC) announces opinion not approving silver compounds for application in food contact materials (FCMs); includes silver zinc zeolite, silver zeolite, silver copper zeolite, silver sodium hydrogen zirconium phosphate; finds risk unacceptable for human health; next meeting scheduled in June 2021

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How to regulate polymers?

Chemical Watch commentary addresses the nature of polymerization reactions, provides technical background information explaining the challenges in the registration of polymers under REACH

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OECD report on polymeric PFAS

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) publishes synthesis report on less well-studied sub-group of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) – polymeric PFAS; finds that these polymers can contain sizeable amounts of non-polymeric PFAS or can degrade into them; polymeric PFAS seen as ‘long-term significant sources’ of PFAS in the environment and in living organisms

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Wrap: packaging encourages household food waste

UK civil society organization Wrap finds selling produce without plastic packaging and date labels would save 100,000 tons food and 10,300 tons plastic in UK yearly; fruits and vegetables studied have the same shelf life without packaging; packaging sizes encourage overconsumption; date labeling encourages early disposal; Foodwatch petitions German government to ban plastic packaging for produce by 2026