Non-food legislation – March 2025
Hazardous substances - rules and regulations
In February 2025, OECD hosted a workshop to advance the development of an Industry Implementation Programme for the Global Framework on Chemicals (GFC). EU: In November 2024, ECHA organised a webinar on the new ECHA guidance on the recently introduced hazard classes under the CLP regulation. Recently ECHA published Q&A (575 kB) based on questions received before and during the event. Canada: The government has published a report (2.61 MB) concluding that the class of PFAS, excluding fluoropolymers, is harmful to human health and the environment. The government is now proposing to add the class of PFAS, excluding fluoropolymers, to Part 2 of Schedule 1 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA). Phase 1, starting in 2025, will address PFAS in firefighting foams. Phase 2 will focus on products like cosmetics, food packaging materials, and textiles. NL: PGS (in Dutch) has published the final version (in Dutch) of the renewed guideline PGS 15 for the storage of packaged hazardous substances. US: A new study by the Silent Spring Institute and UC Berkeley shows how California’s Proposition 65 has caused companies to shift away from using toxic substances. Prop 65 is a right-to-know law that requires individuals to receive a clear and reasonable warning before being exposed to certain chemicals. The researchers found that companies are reluctant to put a label on a product that says it contains a chemical that causes cancer. The study (1.63 MB) is published in Environmental Science & Technology.
NL: New pictograms for medication
Because there are many different sets of pictograms, medication users have to keep learning their meaning. That is why the CBG - Medicines Evaluation Board (in Dutch) together with other parties, has developed a set of more than 50 pictograms with accompanying texts, which has been tested on low-literacy groups, among others. This also means that the CBG's policy has changed on the use of pictograms in the package leaflets and on the packaging of medicines. The intention is to expand this project in the coming years, also within Europe.
NL Platform Machine Regulation
NEN – the Dutch Standards Organisation (in Dutch) has announced that from as of 2025, companies in the machine industry can use the Platform Machinery Regulation (in Dutch) for everything they need to know about the EU Machinery Regulation. This legislation will come into force on 20 January 2027 and will replace the current Machinery Directive.
Research on (micro)plastics
ACS reports on a study showing that bags used for medical intravenous (IV) infusions can release microplastics. The researchers estimate that thousands of plastic particles could be delivered directly to a person’s bloodstream from a single 250-milliliter bag of infusion fluid. The study (5.51 MB), led by Fudan University, is published in Environment & Health.
A Boston University study found that bacteria exposed to microplastics became resistant to multiple types of antibiotics commonly used to treat infections. The plastics provide a surface that the bacteria attach to and colonise. The study (2.02 MB) is published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
Micro- and nanoscale plastic particles in soil and water can significantly increase how much toxic chemicals plants and human intestinal cells absorb, according to two new studies from Rutgers Health.
In a review (2.54 MB) published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances, Sousse University researchers examine the effects of macro and microplastics on various human organs and systems and the different routes of plastic uptake.
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