Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a large group of industrial chemicals that are used in numerous industrial processes and consumer products due to their special technical properties. PFAS are difficult to degrade and are detectable in the environment, food chain and humans. Therefore, these substances are also known as "forever chemicals."
3M has agreed to pay $10.3 billion to resolve legal challenges brought against the company by US public water systems over its discharges of polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) into US waterways. The deal is subject to approval by a US federal court.
The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is moving to advance the petition to restrict the use of poly-fluorinated alkyl substances (PFASs submitted in January by the environmental authorities of Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.
Is the grass really always greener on the other side? Scarcely heard up to now above the din European chemical companies have been making about being disadvantaged by the US Inflation Reduction Act, which subsidizes “green investment” by American companies, their US competitors are making noises of their own.
The European Commission has provisionally renewed the license of the herbicide active ingredient glyphosate until the end of 2023. Earlier this year, the EU governing body had asked all member states to approve a one-year extension.
US conglomerate 3M has agreed with the Flemish government to spend more than €571 million on cleaning up PFAS-contamination at its site in Belgium. The Flemish government had ordered 3M to halt PFAS production at Zwijndrecht last October because of contamination levels.
Sharon McGuinness has been appointed to a five-year term as the new executive director of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), the body that administrates the REACH chemicals legislation.
Two EU authorities, the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) and the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), are poised to begin reviewing a draft assessment of the safety of glyphosate. The license for the active ingredient in the Monsanto-developed Roundup herbicide comes up for renewal at the end of 2022, and the opinions will form the basis for a decision by the European Commission.
Chemicals are a critical, but often overlooked, factor of success for a circular economy. 96% of all products on European markets, from food to medical treatments, from buildings to consumer electronics, rely on chemicals, so this shouldn’t come as a surprise. But what does circularity mean for the future of the chemicals industry? Should it embrace circular systems or resist them?
European chemical producers are sprinting to be ready to comply with new reporting rules for Substances of Very High Concern (SVCH) under an expansion of the EU’s REACH legislation due to take effect next year.
