How can standards help protect us from harmful chemicals?
Standards play an essential role in enforcing bans or restrictions of harmful chemicals – standardised testing methods are needed to detect a target substance in materials or products. Some endocrine-disrupting chemicals are already restricted and it’s likely that more will be regulated in the future – meaning that timely and up-to-date testing standards are needed to avoid further delays.
Standards ensure that all products in the EU are tested in the same way – so no matter where you buy something, you can be sure it meets the same rules on quality, performance, and safety. For any legislation to be effective, it must be backed by strong standards.
For chemicals, standard testing methods mean that every lab in the EU will use the same method to test if products contain banned or limited substances. Without them, it can be difficult to keep harmful products off the market as testing procedures and results will differ between EU Member States.
Some endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are already restricted because of their risk to health, and it is likely that more EDCs will be regulated in more products in the future, including ‘forever chemicals’ PFAS. To avoid any delays in current or future chemical restrictions, there is an urgent need to develop additional and up-to-date testing standards that are future-proof and replicable in testing laboratories across the EU.
ECOS gratefully acknowledges the support of the Broad Reach foundation. Views and opinions expressed belong to the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of our funding partners, who cannot be held responsible for them.
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