Many REACH Registrants Not in Compliance, Says ECHA Forum

Ever since the first REACH registration deadline of November 2010 ECHA has been doing inspections to see if registrants properly complied with the data and reporting requirements of REACH.  The answer is often - NO.  Recently the second report of ECHA's REACH Enforcement Forum estimated that about 20% of the companies they looked at were not in compliance.  In the first report the Forum had identified 24% compliance for the earlier group of companies inspected.

Most of the non-compliance was related to failure to comply with the new Safety Data Sheet requirements or failure to correctly register their substances.  Sometimes this meant no registration was submitted at all, other times there was a lack of preregistration, and in still others the company preregistered but did so incorrectly.  Possible penalties for non-compliance could include loss of registrations, public shaming of companies with multiple non-compliance, fines, and criminal complaints.


The report will be available on the ECHA web site.

EPA Releases Work Plan to Improve Evaluation of Chemicals in Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program

From the USEPA regarding the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program:

"EPA is releasing an overview summary of the Agency’s work plan to improve the scientific methods used to evaluate chemicals that may impact the endocrine system in people and animals.  This work plan relies on scientific advancements in computational modeling, molecular biology, toxicology, and advanced robotics.  By incorporating these scientific advancements into evaluating chemicals under the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP), EPA will prioritize and screen chemicals with greater speed, efficiency, and accuracy, while minimizing the use of laboratory animals.  

The work plan, referred to as EDSP21, follows recommendations made by the National Research Council (NRC) in a 2007 report on toxicity testing.  Since EPA is required to complete registration review of registered pesticides by October 2022, new tools are needed to more quickly and efficiently screen and assess these pesticides.  Development and validation of these new tools will be a multiyear process.  As these new tools become ready for use, the EDSP will transition to rely on computational toxicology methods and high throughput screens to more quickly and cost-effectively assess potential chemical toxicity while minimizing the use of conventional whole animal studies.  The workplan summary describes this transition.

By way of background, EPA is required to screen pesticides and other chemicals for their potential to cause effects similar to those produced by estrogen and other natural hormones."  

The work plan can be downloaded from the EPA web site here.