The classification of four phthalates commonly used as plasticisers for PVC (DEHP, BBP, DBP and DiBP) that are included in the list of Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC), compiled by the risk assessment committee of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA, Helsinki / Finland; www.echa.europa.eu), has been extended. The decision to add the “equivalent level of concern” categorising the chemicals as endocrine disruptors, in addition to the existing classification as toxic to reproduction under REACH, followed a vote by the EU Commission in mid-February.

Commenting on last month’s decision, which it called an “historic moment,” the European advocacy group Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL; www.env-health.org) noted that this marks the first time chemicals have been added to the SVHC list because of their endocrine-disrupting properties to humans. The next step, it said is “to put away the erroneous fiction that we can reliably establish ‘safe levels’ for endocrine disruptors – and then to regulate them accordingly.”

Denmark has been expressing concern over the hazards of plasticiser ingredients since 2011. Over the past six years, the Scandinavian country, which has claimed “considerable experience” in measuring phthalate migration, has been at the forefront of efforts to restrict the use of plasticisers in soft plastic toys, but has faced opposition from EU member states as well as industry groupings – see Plasteurope.com of 17.12.2014 and 20.06.2016.

The Danish government most recently proposed a ban on the four phthalates in products involving close human contact such as soft plastic toys, including those imported from outside the EU. The proposal to classify the four substances as endocrine disruptors was supported by the ECHA. Commenting on the classification vote, the European Council for Plasticisers and Intermediates (ECPI, Brussels / Belgium; www.ecpi.org) said that, in its view a double listing of the phthalates, both as endocrine disruptors and reprotoxics, is “not useful.”