News

New test results published last week by the Swedish Chemicals Agency revealed worrying levels of hazardous chemicals present in food packaging products: the results showed that over 80% of products tested contained DEHP, a known hormone disrupting chemical.

Last week the international fast food chain McDonald’s announced a global ban of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in its food packaging. The company stated it would phase out PFAS in its packaging products entirely by 2025. The company also disclosed it has already eliminated the other harmful chemicals BPA and BPS in its takeaway packaging.

A scientific study has found that exposure to banned polychlorinated byphenyls (PCBs) in the ocean could be negatively affecting the fertility of male harbour porpoises.

Happy New Year! While 2020 was a very challenging year for everyone, we wanted to highlight some of the good news on actions to protect our health and the environment from harmful chemicals.

The European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU), a project which looks at our exposure to chemicals across Europe, is asking European citizens to fill in a survey on their perspectives on chemical safety and human biomonitoring.

This week researchers lead by the Food Packaging Forum launched their free database of chemicals in food contact materials (FCM).

Last week Scottish NGO Fidra launched a campaign asking the UK government to take immediate action to ban ‘Forever Chemicals’ PFAS (per- or poly-fluorinated alkyl substances) in food packaging.

A recent study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Food, has found that plastic baby bottles can release millions of microplastics each day. Some bottles released up to 16.2 million microplastics per litre of formula.

In some great news for our health, EU Member States have voted to ban Mancozeb, a fungicide that is known to be an endocrine disruptor and toxic to reproduction.

On 14th October, the European Commission published their new Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, which sets out the EU’s priorities for chemicals policy. The Strategy includes a commitment to ensure that consumer products do not contain the most harmful chemicals.