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Last changed: 30/12/2009
The Federal Environment Agency is calling for an amendment of Annex XIII of the REACH Regulation, which sets out the criteria for the identification of PBT-/vPvB substances. These substances of very high concern pose a risk to human health and the environment that is not predicable in the long term.
Many products contain PFCs due to their positive properties. The UBA finds this cause for concern since PFCs enter the bloodstream through inhalation and food intake, accumulate in the body, and are channelled into drinking water via wastewater and sewage sludge application. UBA and the Drinking Water Commission therefore recommend limit values on PFCs for the sake of environmental and health protection.
The joint substance database operated by Germany’s federal government and Laender, the Gemeinsame Stoffdatenpool von Bund und Ländern (GSBL), stores reliable information about chemicals and their environmental impact. Operational staff such as fire departments and the police have been using Germany’s largest and most important substance database for years. The database is now available free of charge to the general public.
The fourth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention, held from 4 to 8 May 2009 in Geneva, decided a business plan for promoting a global partnership in the fight against malaria and for phase-out of the insecticide DDT. This initiative is a substantial progress on this issue by bringing together all relevant actors.
Businesses will soon not only be leading cars and computers but also chemicals. The German Federal Environment Agency (UBA) makes this proposal in its “Sustainable Chemicals” paper”. “Innovative chemical companies in Germany are especially well-placed at present to promote more sustainable management of chemical use through chemical leasing. Anyone who deploys economical technologies in times of crisis has better chances of surviving global competition“ said UBA´s President Troge.
The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants calls for the prevention and reduction of environmental releases of 12 chemicals that are persistent and liable to accumulate and therefore, particularly dangerous. For reporting, Parties had to identify emission sources of these POPs and quantify annual releases in an emission inventory. Germany has therefore compiled relevant data for unintentionally released POPs (PCDD/Fs, PAHs, PCBs, HCB), which are presented in this research report.
From 2004 to 2007, the EU-sponsored project ERAPharm reviewed concepts for the evaluation of pharmaceuticals for veterinary and human use, taking three medicinal products as examples. Working with the Federal Institute of Hydrology, the Federal Environment Agency has obtained new experimental results on fluoxetine, a psychiatric drug. The popular pharmaceutical proved to be highly toxic to aquatic organisms.
The new regulations about the authorisation and use of plant protection agents represent a giant leap for environmental protection in Europe. The directive bans the application of especially hazardous ingredients in plant protection products and commits Member States to create the necessary conditions for farmers to work with methods that can do with fewer pesticides.
Recommendations by the EU Member States are to result in stricter regulation of 15 chemicals with adverse impact on the environment and health. The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) published the list of chemicals today and invites commentary from the public.
On 20 January 2009 the European GHS Regulation No. 1272/2008 entered into force. The world’s first standardised system for the classification and labelling of chemicals is from now on also being applied throughout Europe. A visible change to the old system is represented by the modified pictograms, also in respect to their number.
Would you like to know how much CO2 or waste a certain industrial operator in Germany produces? Since 2008 large industrial operators have been obliged to report on their pollutant emissions to the air, water, and soil, on pollutants in their effluent, and on the volumes of the waste they dispose of. As of 3 June 2009, this information is accessible to the public via the Internet in the German Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR).
The Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention from 4 to 8 May 2009 in Geneva made progress in matters of international chemicals safety. Nine persistent chemicals which accumulate in the food chain, or persistent organic pollutants (POPs), were added to the list of internationally outlawed chemicals to make a total of 21 chemical compounds.
Since copper as a heavy metal is non-degradable, repeated and long-term application of copper fungicides results in the accumulation of copper in soil. This report reviews existing studies on the effects of copper accumulation on soil organisms as observed in the laboratory and in the field. The report accentuates UBA’s fundamental concern to the use of copper fungicides in plant protection.
What chemical and biological mechanisms influence uptake of metals in organisms and their toxicity in the environment? This study explores the question of how metals are taken up by organisms and are possibly accumulated and discusses how bioavailability should be integrated into the environmental risk assessment of metals.
What is REACH and what has got to do with me? Many companies are asking themselves this and other questions these days, for the new European chemicals law REACH entered into force on 1 June 2007. How REACH works can now be learned in an online course. This e-learning tool will enable companies to identify their role under REACH and the obligations it entails.
The REACH e-learning tool (eREACH) is available online (through REACH information portal) and on CD-ROM. The CD can be requested by e-mail: info@umweltbundesamt.de (please give your address for dispatch).