European Commission publishes results of public consultation within fitness check of EU legislation on endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs); finds that majority of respondents believe EU laws do not protect them from exposure to EDCs, that EDCs have been insufficiently identified across sectors
Four food contact chemicals added to SVHC candidate list
European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) adds five new chemicals to the Candidate List of substances of very high concern (SVHC) and expands listing of a sixth; five of the six have been measured in food contact articles; listing obligates producers and suppliers to provide safety information and to notify ECHA; candidate list now contains 240 substances
Guidelines on recycled content and recyclability
British Plastics Federation publishes guidelines to help companies incorporate recycled content into their plastic packaging; RECOUP issues updated guidelines for designing plastic packaging for recyclability
Basel Convention to control plastic waste trade
Parties to the Convention adopt changes to place plastic waste under the Prior Informed Consent procedure; requires plastic waste exporters to obtain permission from importing countries
EU court confirms BPA as endocrine disruptor
General court upholds classification of bisphenol A as an endocrine disrupter; dismisses case brought by Plastic Europe against European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)
EU: New regulation on official controls
Newly adopted revision of EU Regulation on Official Controls aims at simplifying the control system for food safety along the entire supply chain, foresees increased efficiency in preventing, eliminating or reducing health risks
Nordic Council checks compliance of products sold online
Inspectors from Nordic countries examine 361 products ordered online for compliance with various EU chemicals legislation; find 53% non-compliant, higher rate of non-compliance for products sold by companies outside of EU; lead, short chain chlorinated paraffins, diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) detected most often
AOP-based computational models for regulatory toxicology
Review article by EU Commission’s Joint Research Centre and collaborators discusses development and use of computational prediction models for regulatory toxicology and how it can be supported by the Adverse Outcome Pathways framework
Conference on uncertainty in risk analysis
EFSA and BfR to hold “International Conference on Uncertainty in Risk Analysis” on February 21-22, 2019 in Berlin; focus on challenges and advances in assessing, managing, and communicating uncertainty
EU Parliament vetoes EDC criteria
EU Parliament’s vote rejects EU Commission’s proposal for EDC identification criteria for pesticides; asks to remove exemption for the substances with intended endocrine mode of action, deliver new proposal ‘without delay’