{"id":2534,"date":"2013-01-29T17:04:16","date_gmt":"2013-01-29T22:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/nanotechnology\/?p=2534"},"modified":"2014-03-25T10:18:54","modified_gmt":"2014-03-25T15:18:54","slug":"echa-raises-its-sights-several-recent-additions-to-the-reach-candidate-list-set-precedents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/2013\/01\/29\/echa-raises-its-sights-several-recent-additions-to-the-reach-candidate-list-set-precedents\/","title":{"rendered":"ECHA raises its sights: Several recent additions to the REACH Candidate List set precedents"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Alissa Sasso is a Chemicals Policy Fellow.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">The European Union is maintaining a steady pace as it works to address chemicals of concern: Last month, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) added 54 Substances of Very High Concern (SVHCs) to the <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/echa.europa.eu\/web\/guest\/candidate-list-table\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">Candidate List<\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\"> for Authorisation under its REACH Regulation, bringing the total number of substances on the list to 138. <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.echa.europa.eu\/view-article\/-\/journal_content\/b5d76d7f-7b28-4081-bd5c-9500e01e1ab2\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">ECHA posted a press release<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\"> listing the new SVHCs and describing some of the more interesting additions, which we\u2019ve highlighted below. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">For 23 of the additions, REACH\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/echa.europa.eu\/about-us\/who-we-are\/member-state-committee\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">Member State Committee (MSC)<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\"> reviewed public comments during the comment period on draft SVHC proposals before voting unanimously to add all of them onto the Candidate List. The other 31 new additions were not challenged during the public comment period, and hence moved directly onto the candidate list without MSC consultation. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">The majority of the new SVHCs, like most substances already on the list, are classified as carcinogen, mutagenic and\/or toxic to reproduction (CMRs).\u00a0 But it\u2019s with the other new listings that it gets really interesting.\u00a0 <!--more--><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">Noteworthy additions to the Candidate List under the \u201c<\/span><\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/nanotechnology\/2011\/12\/21\/the-a-in-reach-takes-off-20-chemicals-headed-to-the-candidate-list-and-13-to-authorization\/\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">equivalent level of concern<\/span><\/strong><\/a><strong><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\">\u201d designation<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\">For the first time, three <strong>respiratory sensitizers<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size: medium\"> were identified as SVHCs: <\/span><span style=\"font-size: medium\">diazene-1,2-dicarboxamide (ADCA), hexahydro-2-benzofuran-1,3-dione (HHPA) and hexahydromethylphthalic anhydride (MHHPA).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\">Two more <strong>endocrine-disrupting chemicals<\/strong><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\"> were added to accompany the one already on the list ((1,1,3,3-tetramethylbutyl)phenol, first listed in December 2011):<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\">4-nonylphenol; and<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\">Octylphenol ethoxylate, which was added because of the endocrine-disrupting properties of its <em>degradation product<\/em> \u2013 <\/span><span style=\"font-size: medium\">(<\/span><span style=\"font-size: medium\">1,1,3,3-tetramethylbutyl)phenol, mentioned above. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\">Other precedents<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">Another chemical also made the list due to the properties of its degradation products:\u00a0 DecaBDE is classified as both persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) and very persistent and very bioaccumulative (vPvB), <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.echa.europa.eu\/documents\/10162\/27064fdb-1cb4-4d37-86c3-42417ec14fb6\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">based on the PBT\/vPvB properties of the lower-brominated BDE substance(s) it degrades into<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">Finally, four perfluorinated chemicals were added to the list based on \u201cread-across\u201d \u2013 a process by which hazard data on one or more chemicals that have been tested and are structurally related to chemicals under consideration are used to \u201cestimate\u201d the latter chemicals\u2019 hazards.\u00a0 In this case, perfluorinated chemicals with 11, 12, 13 and 14 carbon atoms in their backbone chains (C11-14) were classified as vPvB substances based primarily on the known vPvB properties of their shorter-chain analogs (C8-9).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">The identification of these chemicals as SVHCs sets important precedents for broadening the scope of chemicals that may be included on the Candidate List under REACH. Geert Dancet, Executive Director of ECHA, believes \u201c<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.echa.europa.eu\/view-article\/-\/journal_content\/b5d76d7f-7b28-4081-bd5c-9500e01e1ab2\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">that through the recent work on respiratory sensitisers, PBTs and endocrine disruptors [ECHA] has created a solid foundation for the inclusion of all types of substances of concern<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">\u201d in the future. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">And, as with all substances on the Candidate List, these chemicals may be added to the <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/echa.europa.eu\/web\/guest\/addressing-chemicals-of-concern\/authorisation\/applications-for-authorisation\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">Authorisation List<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">, which ultimately leads to bans or limits on the use of such substances. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\">ECHA\u2019s most recent move draws an even starker contrast with the badly outmoded U.S. system, where exceedingly few substances of high concern have been identified, let alone restricted, in the nearly four decades since adoption of the Toxic Substances Control Act in 1976. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alissa Sasso is a Chemicals Policy Fellow. The European Union is maintaining a steady pace as it works to address chemicals of concern: Last month, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) added 54 Substances of Very High Concern (SVHCs) to the Candidate List for Authorisation under its REACH Regulation, bringing the total number of substances on &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8643,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[39986,446,5010,39156,5015],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-2534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-policy","tag-endocrine-disruption","tag-reach","tag-flame-retardant","tag-persistant-bioaccumulative-and-toxic-pbt","tag-substances-of-very-high-concern-svhc"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8643"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2534\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2534"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}