Dutch health ministry backs the RIVM’s call to reconsider EU-wide exposure limits and tighten national controls for BPA; EFSA says BPA reevaluation planned ‘next year’
Plastic Health Summit 2021: Urgent need for action on plastics
Scientists, activists, industry and policy makers share findings and future needs that address the plastic pollution crisis; recycling plastics is ineffective strategy; concern over possible health effects of micro- and nanoplastics
EU Member States adopt EDC criteria
EU Member States vote in favor of European Commission-proposed criteria to identify endocrine disruptors in the field of plant protection products; both industry and NGOs view adopted criteria as ‘flawed,’ call on European Parliament to veto the proposal
SAFEMTECH project: closing conference on food packaging safety
SAFEMTECH project focuses on adhesives safety in FCMs and development of active and intelligent packaging
Further reactions to EU EDC criteria adoption
Denmark and Sweden maintain that EDC criteria require too high burden of proof; France promises tougher national controls on EDCs; Endocrine Society calls on EU Parliament to ‘gather input’ from endocrine scientists
Environment MEPs object EDC criteria
European Parliament’s Environment Committee supports objection to EU Commission’s proposal for EDC criteria, highlights unlawful exemptions for compounds with intended endocrine activity, calls on full Parliament to veto criteria proposal
Contaminants migrate from recycled paper and paperboard
New method for the detection of contaminants in in recycled paper and paperboard. Significant levels of BPA, DEHP and nonylphenols found in commercial retail samples of recycled paperboard food contact materials.
Swiss authorities investigate paper and board packaging
Enforcement campaign finds mineral oils, plasticizers, photoinitiators, chlorinated substances in paper and board packaging; >50% of companies could not demonstrate legal compliance
Summer 2023 research snapshot: PFAS in food packaging, food, and potential health impacts
A summary of eight studies; scientists quantify per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in French fast food packaging; detect eleven PFAS in baking trays from China but not Spain; find PFAS in straws made of paper, bamboo, glass, and plastic; “compostable” service ware can contaminate compost with PFAS; find PFAS in edible oil worldwide; further articles focus on PFAS in drinking water, in Asia, and effects on child respiratory health
Discussion on polymer registration under REACH goes into 4th round
EU Competent Authorities for REACH and CLP (CARACAL) subgroup members debate on the identification of polymers requiring registration and their grouping; consider different opinions of stakeholders on group size, acceptable hazard variation within a group and options to deal with the variety of molecular weights one polymer can have; discussions to continue until end of 2021