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REACH: a new regulation for chemical subtances

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Subido el 7 de agosto de 2007 por EducaMadrid

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REACH: a new regulation for chemical subtances

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Cosentina, a small town nestled in the hills between Valencia and Alicante, provides a 00:00:00
poignant reminder of the potential dangers of the chemicals we take for granted in our 00:00:06
everyday lives. 00:00:10
In 1992, a textile company called Ardestil instructed its workers to spray a dye stuff 00:00:11
which was designed to be applied by a roller. 00:00:16
This may sound like a minor departure from normal practice, but it had disastrous consequences. 00:00:19
When the workers in this factory sprayed the dye, its particles filled the air like fog. 00:00:25
Six young employees later died from having inhaled the toxic substance and 80 more contracted 00:00:30
serious lung diseases. 00:00:35
One of the innocent victims was the daughter of Amparo Pascual, who now acts as spokeswoman 00:00:37
for the survivors of the accident. 00:00:42
In 2003, a Spanish court ruled that Ardestil had used dangerous chemicals in its factory 00:00:53
and had failed to show its workers how to handle them. 00:00:58
In addition, it concluded that the serious lung damage suffered by the workers was directly 00:01:01
related to the lack of preventative measures and exposure to a cocktail of chemicals. 00:01:05
Pascual campaigns with other victims and relatives of victims, such as Chelo Raguez, to prevent 00:01:11
a repeat of the Ardestil tragedy. 00:01:16
Raguez knows all too well about the effects of exposing youngsters to toxic chemicals. 00:01:36
Her 18 and 20-year-old daughters died from inhaling poisonous fumes in the Ardestil company. 00:01:40
She now devotes her life to fighting for justice for the victims of the accident and for tighter 00:01:45
controls on dangerous chemicals. 00:01:50
This is precisely what a new EU chemicals regulation known as REACH aims to do. 00:02:02
If the law had been in place in the early 1990s, data on the dangerous substances contained 00:02:07
in the dye would have been available, along with advice on whether it could be sprayed 00:02:11
or not. 00:02:15
REACH will help prevent similar cases from happening elsewhere in Europe where dangerous 00:02:16
chemicals are currently being used in factories and other industries. 00:02:20
The Spanish textile industry has come a long way since the Ardestil disaster. 00:02:25
At this Madrid fashion show, organised by Greenpeace and a handful of young Spanish 00:02:29
designers, none of the clothes was produced using any of six highly toxic chemicals otherwise 00:02:33
frequently used in textiles. 00:02:38
Spanish clothing giant Mango, which has over 900 shops in 83 countries, supports the campaign 00:02:43
to replace hazardous chemicals with safer alternatives. 00:02:49
Along with other leading companies such as Adidas, Nokia, Dell and Ikea, it has made 00:02:52
a pledge to phase out six of the most dangerous chemicals used in its products. 00:02:57
Substituting dangerous chemicals with less hazardous ones is at the heart of the REACH 00:03:09
regulation. Under the new law, uses of substances of very high concern will have to be authorised, 00:03:17
and eventually these chemicals will be phased out and replaced by safer alternatives. 00:03:23
Mango, which supports REACH, believes its policy of phasing out toxic chemicals will 00:03:27
not lead to higher costs for shoppers. 00:03:31
Studies carried out for the European Commission also show the benefits for human health, dwarfing 00:03:34
the cost to industry by a ratio of almost 10 to 1. 00:03:38
The medical expenses for chemicals related diseases will be less, medicines will not 00:03:42
be needed, we shall not lose working hours and productivity will be better. So the overall 00:03:53
benefits of REACH will by far outweigh the cost to the industry. 00:04:01
The chemicals industry is the third largest manufacturing sector in the EU, employing 00:04:10
1.9 million people in 31,000 companies. But in recent years, its reputation has suffered 00:04:15
as more and more studies have linked hazardous chemicals to falling sperm counts, increases 00:04:20
in breast and testicular cancer, and a host of environmental problems such as soil and 00:04:25
water pollution and the thinning of the ozone layer. 00:04:29
It's true that the image of the chemical industry is not ranking first in public opinions, because 00:04:33
there are fears about chemicals, about the hazards. So if we can demonstrate through 00:04:40
REACH that a well-documented dossier about hazard exposure and risk, and proper risk 00:04:46
management is in place or is improved, we can indeed enhance the confidence in chemicals. 00:04:54
Under REACH, which will replace 40 pieces of existing EU legislation, companies will 00:05:04
have to show that the substances they use or sell are safe. They will also have to provide 00:05:09
a new EU chemicals agency in Helsinki with data on the properties of the substances they 00:05:14
manufacture or import, information which will be provided to other companies downstream 00:05:19
in the supply chain and available to the public on the internet. 00:05:24
We need chemicals. After all, almost everything we use in our daily life is made from, or 00:05:29
contains them. 00:05:34
When we think about chemical pollution, we think about big smokestacks, polluted smokestacks, 00:05:36
and chemical factories exploding. But unfortunately, a lot of the exposure comes also from the 00:05:43
consumer products that we bring home. The pyjamas, the perfumes that we wear, the laptops 00:05:49
that we have to work with, and many of them release hazardous chemicals into the environment. 00:05:56
The problem, as this website created by the European Consumers' Organization, BEUC, shows, 00:06:03
is that we are often unaware of the potentially dangerous chemicals found in the most banal 00:06:08
household items. Soaps may contain parabens, which interfere with the hormonal system, 00:06:12
and towels might contain formaldehyde, which has been classified as carcinogenic, poisonous 00:06:18
and corrosive. Washing-up liquids contain a cocktail of chemicals which can irritate 00:06:22
the eyes, throat and lungs. Bedsheets may contain formaldehyde, and even traces of the 00:06:27
banned pesticide DDT. And although a dangerous softening agent that causes development problems 00:06:32
has been removed from PVC baby toys, other PVC items may still contain it. Most consumers 00:06:38
believe that whatever is on the market must be safe for use, and they expect industry 00:06:44
and authorities to ensure that for them. The problem is that 99% of the chemicals used 00:06:48
in everyday products have never been tested. With so little information available, no wonder 00:06:53
shoppers at this supermarket outside Brussels are anxious about what chemicals are in the 00:06:59
products they buy, and the effects of these substances on them and their children. 00:07:03
Reach won't impose any new labelling requirements on manufacturers, but consumers will, for 00:07:34
the first time, be able to shop safe in the knowledge that the chemicals in the products 00:07:42
they buy have been tested and labelled accordingly, and that the most dangerous substances have 00:07:46
either been banned or will be progressively substituted by safer alternatives. Under the 00:07:50
new regulation... 00:07:55
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Idioma/s:
en
Niveles educativos:
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      • Nivel Intermedio
Autor/es:
The European Union
Subido por:
EducaMadrid
Licencia:
Reconocimiento - No comercial - Sin obra derivada
Visualizaciones:
577
Fecha:
7 de agosto de 2007 - 11:51
Visibilidad:
Público
Enlace Relacionado:
European Commission
Duración:
07′ 57″
Relación de aspecto:
4:3 Hasta 2009 fue el estándar utilizado en la televisión PAL; muchas pantallas de ordenador y televisores usan este estándar, erróneamente llamado cuadrado, cuando en la realidad es rectangular o wide.
Resolución:
448x336 píxeles
Tamaño:
41.25 MBytes

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