Non-food legislation – August 2020

Rules and regulations in Europe
SGS reports that the EU has published Regulation (EU) 2020/784 adding PFOA, its salts and PFOA-related compounds to the POP regulation. The amendment became effective on 4 July 2020.
The EC has published regulation 2020/878 amending Annex II to REACH, which lays down the requirements for compiling safety data sheets. The changes align the annex with the sixth and seventh revisions of the UN Globally Harmonized System (GHS). Among other things, information on the unique formula identifier (UFI), nanomaterials and EDCs is now included.
The European Parliament ENVI Committee recently adopted a resolution, calling on the EC to come up with a new chemicals strategy for sustainability that effectively ensures a high level of protection of health and the environment, minimising the exposure to hazardous chemicals.
ECHA has added four new substances to the Candidate List of substances of very high concern (SVHCs). Three of the substances are used in industrial processes to produce polymers, coating products and plastics, respectively. The other substance is used in consumer products, such as cosmetics.

Rules and regulations in Russia and the US
FPF reports that the Russian government has published a consolidated transitional inventory of chemicals (in Russian). The deadline for submitting notifications to the inventory was 1 August 2020.
Keller and Heckman reports that California’s Proposition 65 warning requirement for glyphosate has been barred by court ruling. Prop 65 is a right-to-know law that requires individuals to receive a clear and reasonable warning before being exposed to certain chemicals.

PFAS
Women exposed to PFAS may experience menopause two years earlier than other women, according to a new University of Michigan study (abstract) published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
In June 2020, a group of international scientists published an article (1.31 MB) in Environmental Science and Technology Letters presenting a scientific basis for managing all PFAS as one chemical class. They emphasise the importance of eliminating non-essential uses of PFAS and recommend further developing safer alternatives and methods to remove existing PFAS from the environment.
Rice University engineers have found an efficient catalyst for destroying PFAS ‘forever’ chemicals. Their study, published in Environmental Science and Technology Letters (abstract), found that boron nitride destroyed PFOA at a faster clip than any previously reported catalyst.

Nanotechnology
EFSA has published a video about nanotechnology.

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