Germany Will Widely Ban Consumers Containing Carcinogenic Substances --- PAHs

Germany will take measures to ban health hazards for consumers resulting from carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) in consumer products and to reduce the environmental impact of this substance.

Over the past few years, German federal has increased its focus on the high concentration of PAHs found in toys, plastic shoes and tool handles. In animal testing, some PAHs have been shown to be carcinogenic and bio-accumulative.

To date, there has been no generally binding EU threshold and no joint European strategy on how to minimize the content of PAHs in consumer products. Existing rules only concern the production of car tyres and stipulate that they should not have plasticizer agents containing carcinogenic PAHs of a concentration exceeding 10 ppm.

However, concerns are being expressed that children’s toys and other commodities may contain hazardous PAHs. In order to better protect consumers from hazardous PAHs, the German federal government asked the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment and the Federal Environment Agency to set up a risk evaluation dossier on PAHs. This dossier contains examples of several consumer products, the respective PAHs contamination found in these products and an assessment of the possible consumer exposure to the chemical and the resulting risks for health and the environment. The dossier recommends an EU-wide restriction on the marketing and use of products containing PAHs.

At the beginning of June 2010, the above-mentioned ministries submitted the dossier to the European Commission and requested that it carried out a simplified procedure to restrict the manufacture, placing on the market and use of PAHs, in accordance with Article 68(2) of REACH. The European Commission now is considering  whether it will follow the German proposal.