The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution warned today that man-made chemicals posed 'unacceptable' risks to human health and wildlife and called for a 'fundamental reform' of government policy on chemicals. Greenpeace welcomed in particular the Commission's call for the central goal of government policy on chemicals to be the 'systematic substitution of hazardous substances with those of a lower hazard'. The report also advised financial penalties for companies that persisted in using dangerous chemicals where less harmful alternatives already exist.
Summary Although the European Union remains one of the largest chemical producing regions of the world, we still know virtually nothing about the hazards posed by the vast majority of chemicals currently being manufactured and marketed, such as environmental persistence, toxicity and effects on human health.
