In an article published on May 24, 2018, the non-governmental organization (NGO) International Chemical Secretariat (ChemSec) informed that “the Swedish Government [is] starting an investigation into the so-called Cocktail effect.” In a press release published on March 28, 2018, environmental minister of Sweden Karolina Skog said that it is “high time we take a holistic approach to the large amount of chemicals we are all exposed to in our everyday lives and produce a strategy for managing the risks” (FPF reported).
A call for action on chemical mixtures has also been voiced by a position paper published by representatives of several European Commission- (EC) funded research projects. As ChemSec summarized, this document “highlights transparency as one of the most important things” and requests disclosure on the chemical composition of products “to improve the understanding of exposure to chemical mixtures in society,” as well as access to the industry studies “for regulators and policymakers to prevent risks in a timely and systematic manner.”
Anna Lennquist, senior toxicologist at ChemSec, said that “with more and more companies willing to share such information we hope that legislators will dare to push for tougher implementation of existing information requirements, and to suggest new ones.”
Read more
ChemSec (May 24, 2018). “It’s time to find out what’s in our daily chemical cocktail.”
Joint collaboration on chemical mixtures for greater impact (2018). “Position Paper: Preventing risks for people and environment from hazardous chemical mixtures.” (pdf)
