The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) plans to add another set of substances of very high concern (SVHC) to the candidate list under the REACH Regulation. The 54 new substances brings the total on the candidate list to 138. Most of the substances listed are CMRs, i.e., carcinogenic, mutagenic or reproductive toxicants, or PBTs, i.e., persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic. Three of the new substances are listed because they exhibit "equivalent concern," a more nebulous characteristic that covers any toxicity or other concern that does not fit neatly into one of the other categories, e.g., endocrine disruption, or in this case, strong respiratory sensitizers.
All of the substances on the candidate list are evaluated for inclusion on the Annex XIV Authorization list.
The full list of candidate list substances can be found in the table here.
