Minutes from recent meetings of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) CEP panel and working groups on bisphenol A (BPA), food contact materials (FCMs), recycling plastics, and phthalates published; groups continue discussions and revisions of draft opinions; new working group on re-evaluation of phthalates and structurally similar substances in FCMs launched
EFSA phthalates working group: 4th meeting
EFSA’s CEP Panel working group on phthalates reassesses safety of DBP, BBP, DEHP, DINP and DIDP for food contact plastics; updated meeting minutes now available online
Japan publishes draft evaluation procedures
Proposed evaluation procedures of food contact substances in Japan opened for public comment; efforts continue towards creation of positive list of substances, set to come into force in June 2020
Cost of environmental hazards
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences develops database with over 70 environmental health studies including economic analyses; new tool to help researchers consider costs of environmental exposures in studies
EU Parliament bans certain single-use plastics
European Parliament agrees on measures to ban specific single-use plastics in EU by 2021, sets targets for bottle collection and recycled content, extends producer responsibility and labeling
12 additional substances for authorization
EU Commission announces the planned addition of 12 substances to the REACH Authorization List, set to be added in October 2019
World Circular Economy Forum 2019
Conference in Helsinki, Finland focuses on discussing how to scale up transition to circular economy, includes session on plastics and circular bioeconomy
EFSA: Activity 2015 and outlook for 2016-2019
EFSA publishes Annual Activity Report 2015 and a revised version of Programming document with strategic outlook for 2016-2019
2019 ILSI NA workshop on FCMs
ILSI North America hosts international conference on scientific advances and challenges in safety evaluation of food packaging materials, April 2-3, 2019; deadline for submitting abstracts is September 14, 2018; registration now open
ECHA to prioritize REACH enforcement
European Chemicals Agency asks national enforcement agencies to prioritize enforcement of REACH evaluation decisions; proposes to review all dossier hazard data for substances above 1 metric ton by 2027