Coatings World - February 2008

EUROPE

vBvPs they would be classified as hazardous because of their intrinsic insolubility, particularly with azo, diarylide and naphthol groups of pigments.

The Ecological and Toxicological Association of Dyes and Organic Pigment Manufacturers (ETAD), Basle, Switzerland commissioned jointly with the UK Environment Agency a study by Atkins Environment, a UK-based con-sultancy, on more accurate testing methods for organic pigments. In a report issued in the summer of 2006 Atkins suggested a screening process for isolating compounds with the highest potential for bioaccumulation for which a testing technology would be developed.

Now ETAD is endeavouring to find a test method for making sure that pigments regarded as high risk are not unnecessarily categorised as PBTs. “We are aiming to develop a reliable and robust testing system,” said Walther Hofheer, ETAD’s technical manager. “It will be a big job and will require a lot of discussions with the Commission and the European Chemicals Agency.”

There is a similar threat hanging over certain resin ingredients. Makers of formaldehyde, which is used in automotive, wood and other coatings, as well as adhesive and a variety of other applications, have been moving fast to combat any official initiatives to place the chemical on the candidate list.

Research has shown that formaldehyde could be carcinogenic. The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Lyon, France, has, however, classified it as a category three carcinogen because the agency considered the evidence inadequate. However as a result of further studies IARC recommended that formaldehyde be raised to category one on the grounds that there is sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity. If this recommendation was accepted within the EU, formaldehyde could be immediately placed on the candidate list.

FormaCare, a sector group for formaldehyde producers in the European

Chemical Industry Council (Cefic), has been collating evidence to rebut claims the chemical is carcinogenic.

Together with downstream user association, it has also just published a report on the socio-economic benefits of formaldehyde within the EU. This is the sort of social and economic assessment which will be taken into account when a chemical undergoes investigation for authorization.

The report estimates that EU consumers would have to spend an additional € 30 billion per year if formalde-hyde-based products were replaced by substitute materials.

If any of the EU’s 27 member states wanted to press for formaldehyde’s inclusion in the candidate list, as allowed under the REACH legislation, the report could be an effective counterweight.

“If any individual countries want to do their own evaluation of formaldehyde, this report will be useful evidence on our behalf,” Detlev Clajus, FormaCare’s manager, told a press conference on the report at Weybridge, England. “The assessment provides figures not only on the EU as a whole but on individual countries.”

The report, drawn up by the U.S.-based research organization Global Insight, provides a country-by-country breakdown of the 1.7 million workers employed directly in the formaldehyde processing and downstream user sectors in the EU, like coatings. This is the sort of political ammunition which chemical companies will need to find to protect their products from the threat of REACH. CW

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