European chemical legislation adopted.A groundbreaking chemical law, passed by the European Parliament European Parliament, a branch of the governing body of the European Union (EU). It convenes on a monthly basis in Strasbourg, France; most meetings of the separate parliamentary committees are held in Brussels, Belgium, and its Secretariat is located in Luxembourg. on Dec. 13, is set to fundamentally change the evaluation and production of chemicals used throughout the European Union European Union (EU), name given since the ratification (Nov., 1993) of the Treaty of European Union, or Maastricht Treaty, to the European Community . The Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) law, which will go into effect in June 2007, takes a different approach than current U.S. policy does. It shifts the responsibility for chemical testing and risk evaluation from public authorities to the chemical industry itself. Manufacturers will have to register with the new European Chemicals Agency The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is an agency of the European Union which manages the technical, scientific and administrative aspects of the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) system. It is sited in Helsinki. any chemical produced or imported in volumes of 1,000 kilograms or more per year. Companies must provide information on all such materials' properties, uses, and safe handling. All the roughly 30,000 substanees covered by this provision must be registered by 2018. The most dangerous chemicals and those produced at the highest volumes are first in line. Companies are required to seek special authorization for chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive problems and chemicals that accumulate Accumulate Broker/analyst recommendation that could mean slightly different things depending on the broker/analyst. In general, it means to increase the number of shares of a particular security over the near term, but not to liquidate other parts of the portfolio to buy a security in the environment or in people. For the most hazardous substances, manufacturers are required to submit a plan indicating safer chemical replacements or, if none exists, a research proposal to find one. The legislation encourages companies to develop and use toxicity toxicity /tox·ic·i·ty/ (tok-sis´i-te) the quality of being poisonous, especially the degree of virulence of a toxic microbe or of a poison. tests that don't require vertebrate vertebrate, any animal having a backbone or spinal column. Verbrates can be traced back to the Silurian period. In the adults of nearly all forms the backbone consists of a series of vertebrae. All vertebrates belong to the subphylum Vertebrata of the phylum Chordata. animals. The European Commission--the executive body of the European Union--estimates that implementing REACH will cost 2.8 to 5.2 billion euros. |
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