Öko-Institut e.V., Merzhauser Straße 173, 79100 Freiburg, Germany.
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department of Analytical Chemistry, Permoserstrasse 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany.
Environ Int. 2018 Oct;119:346-352. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2018.06.037. Epub 2018 Jul 7.
REACH aims at promoting the safe use of chemicals in Europe, inter alia by identification and regulation of substances of very high concern (SVHCs). Once identified, SVHCs need to be substituted by safer alternatives. However, substitutes are frequently not safer than the substances that they replace but rather show similar hazard profiles, resulting in regrettable substitution. This paper investigates the impact of chemicals regulation on substitution of chemicals by analyzing time trends in the industrial use of chemicals from 2000 to 2014 in Scandinavia. It is shown that the use of ten water-relevant SVHCs decreased by about 90% in the considered period in Sweden as compared to a control group of unregulated substances which decreased by only 20%. A closer inspection of the use of 23 highly used plasticizers revealed that the use of regulated phthalate plasticizers decreased while the use of non-phthalate plasticizers increased. A first comparison of hazardous properties showed that during the 15-years period chemical substitution drastically reduced the chemical hazard burden of plasticizers in Scandinavia for both, the environment and human health. This study shows that regulation and the related discussion on chemicals safety have significantly reduced the chemical hazard burden from plasticizers in Scandinavia since the year 2000. It is assumed that similar trends can be found for the whole European Union. To combat regrettable substitution, mitigation options are suggested, including information-based tools for the identification of safer alternatives and an improved accessibility of information on production volumes and uses of chemicals to allow for an improved assessment of chemical's risk.
REACH 的目标是促进欧洲化学品的安全使用，除其他外，还包括识别和监管高关注物质 (SVHCs)。一旦确定，SVHCs 需要被更安全的替代品替代。然而，替代品通常并不比它们所替代的物质更安全，而是显示出相似的危害特征，导致令人遗憾的替代。本文通过分析 2000 年至 2014 年斯堪的纳维亚地区化学品工业用途的时间趋势，研究了化学品法规对化学品替代的影响。结果表明，与未受监管的物质相比，瑞典在考虑期间，十种与水有关的 SVHC 的使用量减少了约 90%，而不受监管的物质仅减少了 20%。对 23 种高用量增塑剂的使用情况进行了更详细的检查，结果表明，受监管的邻苯二甲酸酯类增塑剂的使用量减少，而非邻苯二甲酸酯类增塑剂的使用量增加。对危险特性的首次比较表明，在 15 年期间，化学物质的替代大大降低了斯堪的纳维亚地区增塑剂对环境和人类健康的化学危害负担。本研究表明，自 2000 年以来，法规的制定以及与之相关的化学品安全讨论，显著降低了斯堪的纳维亚地区增塑剂的化学危害负担。据假设，整个欧盟也可能出现类似的趋势。为了应对令人遗憾的替代，本文提出了缓解措施，包括基于信息的工具，用于识别更安全的替代品，以及提高化学品生产数量和用途信息的可及性，以允许对化学品的风险进行更好的评估。
