EU’s REACH Called "Threat" to Chemical Innovation | Engineering360

"REACH, the European Union’s system of regulations governing the Registration,Evaluation, Authorization and restriction of CHemicals. The set of rules took effect in June 2007 and calls for the phasing in of requirements governing the manufacture, tracking, transportation and eventual ban of chemicals deemed to be harmful to health and the environment.

Now, as additional mandates loom, the European chemical industry association, known by the acronym CEFIC, is calling the regulations an over-REACH that threatens to stymie innovation."

Poor and dangerous Complaint? :

"CEFIC Vice President Tony Bastcok goes even further, complaining, that chemical companies are now spending more money on regulatory compliance than innovation at a time when Europe is struggling to compete globally."  (Underdevelopped Country Stance!?)

I kindly ask participants and readers: 

"Who would wish to innovations which are possibly, or worse, potenially dangerous with no safety net!?"

NB.

"However, not all chemical companies want to see the European Commission delay the REACH registration requirements or alter the current list of substances to be brought into regulatory compliance.

German chemical maker BASF, ranked as one of the world’s largest chemical companies, remains supportive of the regulations.

“REACH aims to ensure that chemicals are handled in the EU without risks for human health and the environment,” the company said in a statement. “BASF welcomes the EU Commission’s decision not to impede the ongoing implementation of REACH and not to propose legal revisions to the regulation before 2018.”

The company says, however, that it’s concerned that REACH’s complexity may jeopardize the goal of strengthening innovation and competitiveness of EU’s chemical industry. 

NB I trust that the BASF company calling for simplification is not another attempt at passing the buck to avoid necessary health and saftey testing preferably by independent authorities?

EU’s REACH Called "Threat" to Chemical Innovation | Engineering360

Chemical Compatibility

This link is a useful reminder to anticipate potential hazard in practice. (Of course the specialist professional chemist will prefer the EU programme REACH for his R&D.

Acknowlegement
Cole-Parmer via M. Mayor on Twitter.

in reference to:

"Chemical Compatibility"
- Oh sh*t, it’s on fire. Using a chemical compatibility database can save your job, and your life. « Cole-Parmer Blog (view on Google Sidewiki)

MELAMINE-New global slant- Materials, Substances and Poisons

This can only be considered a materials chemistry subject by some small stretch of the imagination.

The fact that a young blogger from the Philippines posted on melamine "in eggs" and the reported efforts by the Chinese officials to "erradicate all use of Melamine in the foodstock chain? " motivated me as a concerned scientist to speak-up on such themes. I found the global repercussions of this encouraging in terms of global health and safety.

Hopefully the "Melamine Case" may encourage all concerned chemists, scientists, experts in general, to take-up such worthy causes as fighting commercial abuse of science and chemistry, where ever they occur and so up-hold the values many of us share in choosing scientifically based careers.

I shall try not bore readers too much with the subject, which by now must have almost as many links on the web as Barack Obama, but not quite, perhaps unfortunately for this concerns human life right now?

As a chemist I ran my rapid Google search key words: Melamine Chemical Formula.

This turned up two noteworthy sites. 

The first in the list was Wikipedia which gives a very good encyclopedic rendering of the many melimine based materials, chemical compounds or substances and the poisonous effects with many excellent references to check and substantiate for the most sceptical.

images from Wikipedia

The question I asked myself was "Why in hell would anyone wish to use melamine - better known as a composant of glue - in food" The answer is fairly simple quoting from Wikipedia:

"Surplus melamine has been a popular adulterant for feedstock and baby formula in mainland China for several years now, because it can make diluted or poor quality material appear to be higher in protein content by elevating the total nitrogen content detected by some simple protein tests."

I shall not delve into this in any depth but one may pursue the questioning as to what National actions are taken following well published recommendations from say the USA's FDA-Food & Drug Administration, the European Union and of course from The WHO-World Health Organisation?

A well documented and popular account of melanine, the melamine scandal and follow-up measures is a cause which has being taken under the wing by D. Bradley in his well ranked blog Sciencebase.

Good luck David, I trust all the chemistry community will take heed and time for action in their daily duties and concerns.

It could well be that bloggers may have an ever increasing useful role to play in global affairs.

Bloggers can perhaps be more out-spoken than International Organisations who must respect rules of diplomacy and perhaps are major targets for powerful lobbying.

Sources:

-Young concerned blogger from the Philippines posts on Melamine

-Melamine - Wikipedia

-Melamine - Sciencebase

-More concerns from the same Young blogger from the Philippines