Acting on a request from France, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA, Helsinki / Finland; www.echa.europa.eu/) – the body that administers REACH – has launched a public consultation on amending the harmonised classification (CLH) and labelling of bisphenol A (BPA). The 45-day consultation period ends on 11 October.

Following the consultation, ECHA’s Risk Assessment Committee (RAC) will prepare a scientific opinion, taking account of comments received. The committee’s brief is to adopt an opinion on any CLH proposal within 18 months of receiving it.

The proposed reclassification concerns reproductive toxicity – the possible adverse effects of the chemical used in polycarbonates and epoxy resins on sexual function and fertility. It would change the substance from reproductive toxicity category 2 to category 1B. The first category classifies a substance as “suspected” of damaging fertility, the second says it “may” damage fertility. ECHA stresses that French proposal does not extend to developmental toxicity or any other hazard classes.

The French Agency For Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES, Maisons-Alfont; www.anses.fr), which has been far more critical of the potential threat proposed by BPA than the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA, www.efsa.europa.eu) – see Plasteurope.com of 21.10.2011 – believes the classification should be revised on the basis of recent studies, including one of its own published in 2011.

After protracted debate, both houses of France’s parliament have voted to extend the country’s ban on BPA to all food contact packaging from 2015, but final passage of any legislation is in suspension pending a report on the health and environmental hazards of endocrine disruptors due next year.