The Risk Assessment Committee (RAC) of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA, Helsinki / Finland; www.echa.europa.eu) has come out in unanimous support of a French proposal to strengthen the classification of bisphenol A (BPA) as a presumed human reproductive toxicant that may damage fertility – see Plasteurope.com of 05.09.2013.

In its 19 March decision, the committee upgraded the substance used in the production of polycarbonate and epoxy resins from a category 2 reproductive toxicant to 1B, stressing that the change of risk category pertained solely to the adverse effects on sexual function and fertility as proposed by France. Under the EU’s Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) regulation dating from 2009, bisphenol A is already classified as a substance suspected of damaging fertility as well as a possible cause of respiratory irritation and serious eye damage.

RAC said it reached a consensus after comparing the CLP criteria, with studies performed according to standard test guidelines being given the most weight. The committee concluded that there were adverse effects on functional fertility following oral exposure to BPA in a multi-generation guideline study in mice and rats, while noting that classification is focused on the substance’s intrinsic properties and not human exposure levels.

Additionally, ECHA said it has received a proposal to restrict the use of BPA in thermal paper such as that used in cash register receipts. Based on its review of a German substance evaluation of BPA dating from 2012, the chemicals agency that administers REACH in December 2013 decided to request further data on the chemical in the areas of skin absorption and environmental exposure.

Commenting on the proposed reclassification, which will be evaluated by the European Commission and submitted to member states for study, the European plastics producers’ association PlasticsEurope (Brussels / Belgium; www.plasticseurope.org) said data from the guideline studies apparently used by RAC does not support a reprotoxic 1B classification. It pointed out also that the findings of these studies “already have been incorporated into risk assessments conducted by government bodies all over the world", and these “consistently conclude that BPA is safe in its current uses.”

The French parliament’s committee on European affairs meanwhile has published a report on European strategy concerning endocrine-disrupting chemicals. In the report, it calls on the EU to publish both a new, comprehensive strategy on endocrine disruptors as well as “rapidly adopting a single definition based on the hazards and not on the notion of potency as has been put forward by industry.”

France recalls that the European Commission had been due to publish a definition in December of last year but postponed action after environment commissioner Janez Potocnik proposed that an impact analysis be conducted first. In reaction to the delay, Swedish environment minister Lena Ek in February of this year threatened to sue the Commission for breaching a bargaining agreement.