Summary
The Cefic discussion paper addresses the challenges in creating a sustainable chemicals policy in Europe, necessitating a harmonised and structured approach to sustainability assessment. It asserts that current regulations and methods, such as animal testing for chemical safety, need modernisation to foster rapid innovation while ensuring safety. The paper critiques the simplification of using the volume of hazardous chemicals as a sustainability indicator and advocates for more nuanced metrics. Furthermore, it calls for a pragmatic, science-based framework for evaluating sustainability, engaging multiple stakeholders.
Concrete Takeaways
- Accelerated Safety Testing: Speed up safety testing processes, minimising animal use and leveraging new digital predictive toxicology methods to bring safe products to market faster.
- Improved Indicators: Work with Eurostat to develop better sustainability indicators than merely measuring hazardous chemical volumes.
- Holistic Substitution: Expand from hazard-driven substitution to a ‘safe and sustainable-by-design’ approach, incorporating safety, sustainability, and lifecycle impacts.