Labour Research June 2009

Health & Safety Matters

Priority chemicals are listed for REACH

A list of priority chemical substances for authorisation under REACH, the new chemicals regime currently coming into force across Europe, has been sent by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) to the European Parliament .

The ETUC list was published to coincide with the crucial authorisation phase, which is supposed to encourage the gradual replacement of the most dangerous chemical products. It classifies 306 extremely worrying substances, 191 of which cause recognised industrial diseases.

The list is at: http://hesa.etui.org/uk/newsevents/files/TU_Priority_List_REACH.pdf