Could you imagine a doctor trying to help a patient without knowing the chemicals he/she has been exposed to? Could you imagine an architect designing homes without knowing the chemicals present in the building materials? Could you imagine manufacturing toys without knowing the composition of the plastics being used; toys that children surely will end up putting in their mouths? Could you imagine buying a fragrance for your teenager children without knowing if it may contain harmful chemicals? Could you imagine being sensitive to certain chemicals and not being able to know if the computer or T-Shirt you need contains them? Could you imagine selling pizzas in cardboard without knowing that it may contain harmful chemicals?
These inconceivable situations are real life in Europe and in the rest of the world. Citizens, doctors, authorities, professional users and not even companies know the chemical constituents of products placed in the market.
Having poor access to the information on chemicals in products jeopardise stakeholder’s ability to make decisions and take appropriate action on chemical hazards, exposure, risks and management. This is true for all stakeholders, which are inside or outside the supply chain.
In order to protect people and the environment from the risks posed by hazardous chemicals and in order to safeguard material loops in a circular economy without compromising chemical safety aspects, EEB and IPEN demand legally binding requirements for full transparency on the chemical contents in all constituent components of products together with requirements for information sharing between all stakeholders in supply chains.
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Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor CINEA can be held responsible for them.
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