The legal non-profit group ClientEarth reveals in a report published July 23, 2013 that dossiers on endocrine disrupting chemicals submitted by industry to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) are incomplete. ClientEarth states in the report that not all available scientific data was included in the dossiers and that some reports contained information not relevant, reliable or adequate.
Under the European Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical Substances (REACH) regulation, manufacturers of diethyl phthalate, bisphenol A (BPA), tetrabromobisphenol A, triclosan and octyl-methoxycinnamate are required to submit reports to the ECHA summarizing available scientific research concerning the health and environmental impacts of the chemicals. The goal is to only market chemicals for which sufficient data shows how they can be used safely. According to Elizabeth Hiester, lawyer for ClientEarth, the effectiveness of the “no data, no market” system is undermined if dossiers do not include recent scientific progress. The report suggests using weight of evidence approaches in order to ensure that all relevant scientific findings are included in the dossiers. Diethyl phthalate, BPA and triclosan are known to be also used in food packaging materials in Europe.
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