Consumers are widely exposed to chemicals present in products, from toys and childcare articles to food contact materials, cosmetics, furniture and textiles, to name a few, and millions of workers across the EU daily come into contact with chemical agents that can be harmful to them. Vulnerable population groups - such as children, pregnant women and elderly people – are particularly sensitive to chemicals with certain hazardous properties.

One of the biggest health benefits of the EU chemicals legislation in the past decades has been the reduction in the exposure of citizens to carcinogenic substances. This has been possible in particular thanks to a preventive approach across legislation – the ‘generic approach to risk management’ - which means that carcinogenic substances have been generally banned from most consumer products and for uses that expose vulnerable groups, while allowing limited exemptions under conditions clearly defined in law. Such preventive approach is simpler, generally faster and provides clear signals to all actors - enforcement authorities, industry and downstream users - on the types of chemical substances where innovation should be prioritised by the industry.

However, the vast majority of chemicals in the EU is currently regulated on a case-by-case basis and for each specific use. Ample evidence and citizens’ worries justify that for the most harmful chemicals the generic approach to risk management becomes the default option, in particular as regards their use in consumer products. This will be done gradually. Firstly, the Commission will extend the generic approach to risk management to ensure that consumer products do not contain chemicals that cause cancers, gene mutations, affect the reproductive or the endocrine system, or are persistent and bioaccumulative. Secondly, the Commission will immediately launch a comprehensive impact assessment to define the modalities and timing for extending the same generic approach, with regard to consumer products, to further chemicals, including those affecting the immune, neurological or respiratory systems and chemicals toxic to a specific organ.

Extending the generic approach will ensure that consumers, vulnerable groups and the natural environment are more consistently protected, while still allowing for the use of these most harmful chemicals where proven essential for society. The criteria for essential uses of these chemicals will have to be properly defined to ensure coherent application across EU legislation, and will in particular take into consideration the needs for achieving the green and digital transition.

The exposure of humans and the environment to endocrine-disrupting chemicals requires specific attention. These substances are increasingly linked to diseases acting via the hormonal system. Their use is on the rise, representing a serious risk to human health and wildlife as well as creating an economic cost for society. As hormones control brain development and growth, exposure to endocrine-disruptors during foetal development and puberty can lead to irreversible effects, some being detected only many years later. Although some pieces of legislation are able to identify endocrine disruptors, the EU regulatory system is overall fragmented, limited and needs to be consolidated and simplified to ensure that endocrine disruptors are recognised in a timely manner and that exposure of humans and the environment is minimised. This requires the adoption of the preventive generic approach to risk management across legislation, especially to avoid the use of endocrine disruptors in consumer products.

Source: European Commission

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