Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution

Thank you for inviting CEFIC to provide at this early stage the possibility to input to the Royal Commission's Study on Long-Term effects of chemicals in the environment.

Chemicals, both "man-made" and "naturally" occurring, are contributing to the social infrastructure and our quality of life. The chemical industry therefore has a major interest in the study and a keen interest in the outcome as the products of our industry will come under scrutiny.

We have been invited to provide you with first initial comments on the possible scope of the study.

The CEFIC comments are in line with those already provided by our member Federation in the UK, the CIA (see the letter of Mrs Surkovic of 15 January 2001). I shall therefore highlight only a few key points:

. The key question to be addressed is whether or not there is a real problem caused by the Long-Term effects from chemicals in the environment, and if there is a problem, how it can be best addressed.

. The contradiction between the proven benefits of chemicals in terms of quality of life versus the increasing fear of long term effects could be an area of investigation.

. Each study should look at chemicals that are both man-made and naturally occurring. Hazard and risk are not tempered by the chemical's origin.

The European Commission under the lead of DG ENV and DG ENTR is undertaking the Review of the EU Chemicals Policy and similar programmes are ongoing by UNEP, OECD and OSPAR. Therefore we would like to ask you to co-ordinate with these other parties to ensure that your study complements these programmes.

We would also draw your attention on CEFIC's vision which is described in "Chemicals Management 2000 +" (Website http://www.cefic.org/activities/hse/mgt).

CEFIC is cooperating closely with the CIA on this important issue who has agreed to take the lead with the Roval Commission. .I will ensure that comments are incorporated into their communications and briefings. I hope this is helpful to you.

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