Chemicals Archives

French President Emmanuel Macron called for a "regulatory break" on Thursday (11 May) to help industry digest the standards of the European Green Deal, a call that has caused quite a stir among observers and EU politicians.

EU lawmakers' push to phase down fluorinated gases may score the most significant climate victory of the decade and rid Europe's heat pump market of China’s imports, argues Davide Sabbaddin.

Problems related to the Netherlands’ current nitrogen policy and possible alternatives were discussed by the EU’s Climate Chiefs Frans Timmermans and Caroline van der Plas, leader of the opposition party BoerBurgerBeweging (BBB), in The Hague on Tuesday.

An EU draft regulation on essential oils revived fears of yet another 'European conspiracy' against a sensitive Bulgarian product – rose oil. Kapital Insights, part of the Dnevnik media group with which EURACTIV Bulgaria is in partnership, has the story.

Major mapping project reveals PFAS have been found at high levels at thousands of sites across Europe. EURACTIV's media partner, The Guardian, reports.

A question mark hangs over the timeline of the sustainable use of pesticides regulation (SUR) after a leaked letter showed agriculture MEPs are dragging their feet on the crucial file, leading Commission officials to accuse them of deliberately blocking progress on the regulation.

With the EU elections looming in spring 2024, campaigners worry that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will seek to please her political base in Germany with a softball approach to chemicals regulation.

The Member of the European Parliament leading the revision of the EU's pesticide framework is pushing for more ambition both in targets and timelines for EU-wide pesticide cuts, according to a draft report seen by EURACTIV.

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) published its much-awaited proposal aimed at restricting 10,000 synthetic substances hazardous to human health, with the evaluation process set to start in March.

European lawmakers called on the Commission to finally chart a roadmap to phase out animal tests and end ambiguity in the run-up to the much-awaited revision of the EU’s chemical framework.

Recent delays in presenting the new EU rules for chemicals laid stress on how to accelerate the transition to animal-free science in Europe.

Member states once again blocked the Commission's proposal to extend the marketing authorisation of the herbicide glyphosate for another year, but the EU executive is set to still approve an interim renewal before mid-December.

Cancer is the first cause of death in many EU countries, and it can be caused also by exposure to many types of chemicals. For this reason, there is a need to strengthen the EU chemicals regulation while ensuring the competitiveness of the chemicals industry, write  Véronique Trillet-Lenoir and Martin Hojsík.

This week, EURACTIV’s agrifood team talks about the Commission’s reluctance to commit to a timeline for the EU chemicals regulation, REACH, and how changes in the temporary state aid framework will impact farmers. We also explore the launch of the new …

New warnings of health effects from the widely used “forever chemicals” per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) continue to emerge as years go by. Despite all the knowledge, action to limit these chemicals in products and our environment is slow.

The European Commission has declined to commit to moving forward with the delayed revision of the regulation on chemicals on the back of a deepening rift between the socialists and the centre-right groups of the European Parliament over the issue.  

Germany will ban from next spring the export to third countries of pesticides that are not authorised for the EU market and will also push for a bloc-wide export ban together with France.

The European Union needs to reduce power costs in the region to prevent the permanent closure of metal producing plants in the region, which would increase reliance on imports with higher carbon footprints, industry association Eurometaux said.

NGOs and EU lawmakers have urged the European Commission to regulate the use of chemicals in baby nappies. In 2019, French safety agency (ANSES) revealed that almost all European children are exposed to substances that are hazardous to their health. 

The two European agencies in charge of the risk assessment on glyphosate have defended their approach to evaluating whether the herbicide is safe for re-approval in the EU against criticism from environment lawmakers.

It is "not justified" to conclude that the herbicide glyphosate causes cancer, an expert committee inside the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has said, invoking widespread criticism from health and environmental campaigners.

Due to an unprecedented flood of stakeholder input, relevant EU agencies announced their risk assessment on glyphosate will only come in mid-2023, even though the herbicide’s current approval will expire by the end of this year.