The European Commission this week appeared to indefinitely shelve a promised revision of its REACH regulation on chemical safety, refusing to give Parliament a clear indication of when the proposal will be tabled, if at all.
As a successful harvesting season yielding several hundred tonnes of lavender oil wraps up in Bulgaria -- the world's top producer -- the industry's future looks more grey than purple.
This EU mandate, marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, pushed forward the creation of the European Health Union and boosted health policy files - with a short legislative stretch left, here is what lies ahead.
The European Union is gearing up to revise its chemicals legislation to ban harmful substances and drive sustainability in the industry amid debates over the concept of “essential use”, which should help identify irreplaceable functions for such substances.
The EU executive is about to cut back its plans of banning toxic chemicals as first promised in the chemicals strategy after industry pressure, a leaked document seen by EURACTIV suggests.
An EU draft regulation on essential oils revived fears of yet another 'European conspiracy' against a sensitive Bulgarian product – rose oil. Kapital Insights, part of the Dnevnik media group with which EURACTIV Bulgaria is in partnership, has the story.
With the EU elections looming in spring 2024, campaigners worry that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will seek to please her political base in Germany with a softball approach to chemicals regulation.
The European Commission should publish the revision of the regulation for evaluating and authorising chemicals before the end of its mandate to protect human health and the environment, writes Zakia Khattabi.
Investors managing $8 trillion in assets have written to the world's biggest chemicals companies urging them to phase out the use of so-called forever chemicals that can accumulate in the environment and remain hazardous for generations.
A strategy in mental health, first announced by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, is on next year's agenda, Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič told a Parliamentary plenary debate on Tuesday (18 October).
Cancer is the first cause of death in many EU countries, and it can be caused also by exposure to many types of chemicals. For this reason, there is a need to strengthen the EU chemicals regulation while ensuring the competitiveness of the chemicals industry, write Véronique Trillet-Lenoir and Martin Hojsík.
New warnings of health effects from the widely used “forever chemicals” per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) continue to emerge as years go by. Despite all the knowledge, action to limit these chemicals in products and our environment is slow.
The European Commission will seek to address “the presence of hazardous substances” in a wide range of products as part of its upcoming Sustainable Products Initiative (SPI), despite warnings from industry that it could conflict with the EU’s existing chemicals safety legislation.
The EU’s green finance taxonomy is about more than climate finance, it’s also an opportunity to improve our health and well-being by phasing out polluting chemicals, write Timothy Suljada and Charlotte Wagner.
Food and water were thought to be the main ways humans are exposed to PFAS, but a new study points to risk of breathing them in. EURACTIV's media partner, The Guardian, reports.
More needs to be done by legislators and industry to reach Europe’s ambition of safe and sustainable chemicals, laid out in the chemicals strategy in October, according to the head of the European Chemical Agency (ECHA).
The use of persistent and health-harming PFAS chemicals in disposable food packaging remains widespread across Europe, according to a new report, which highlights the role of regulation in reducing exposure to these chemicals.
Weak rules and poor implementation: this is why the EU is failing to curb pollution from the chemical industry, says Jean-Luc Wietor.
As the world looks to rebuild after COVID, we need to change our approach to the environment, particularly the chemicals and single-use plastics involved in food packaging, writes Frédérique Ries.
The EU illegally allowed dangerous lead substances to be sold in paints despite safer options being available, the European Court of Justice said in a ruling on Thursday (25 February).
Around 20% of registrations from UK-based companies to the European Union's REACH chemicals database have not been transferred to EU companies and will be revoked after 31 March 2021, according to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).
The UK is facing a £1 billion bill to replicate the EU’s chemical database after the government opted to leave the bloc's REACH system on 31 December.
Chemical recycling should be seen as a last resort option to deal with growing amounts of plastic waste while more research is needed to reduce its energy consumption, a senior EU official has said.
Scotland passed a law to make menstrual products free and end period poverty on Tuesday (24 November), but more needs to be done to discuss the environmental and health impacts of disposable products, according to environmental campaigners.
