We were delighted to welcome over 200 participants at our REACH conference co-hosted with HEAL at the Residence Palace in Brussels on 29th September 2025. Bringing together EU and national policymakers, scientific experts, civil society organisations and representatives of industry and health groups, the one-day event allowed for very timely and insightful discussions on the upcoming REACH revision and the challenges and opportunities it presents.
In the greeting address, Genon Jensen, Executive Director of HEAL and Dr. Michael Warhurst Executive Director of CHEM Trust set the tone by sounding the alarm on the broad and widening gap between our current scientific understanding of chemical impacts and the levels of protection provided by EU legislation. They both called for urgent action and pressed the Commission to issue its proposal for a REACH revision without further delay.
Our keynote speaker, Dr Marike Kolossa-Gehring, Coordinator of the European Human Biomonitoring Initiative and Head of Toxicology at the German Environment Agency presented the latest sobering data on the European population’s increasing widespread exposure to harmful chemicals (video of the presentation here). She reiterated the call to act now and came with the powerful message that “regulation works” as exposure levels to some harmful chemicals, such as the phthalates, are declining in people following restrictions.
We then had the honour of welcoming Jessica Roswall, the Environment Commissioner, who promised to deliver on the REACH revision just days after the Commission’s regulatory scrutiny board had given a negative opinion on the supporting impact assessment.
She said,
“The REACH revision is essential and we are working hard to get there, but it needs a strong foundation, and strong evidence base, and we are ready to do whatever it takes to deliver that”,
Commissioner Roswall spoke of the urgent need to both simplify and modernise REACH and called on the scientific community and on civil society organisations to continue their work to support the policy process.
Our first panel discussion of the day brought together a range of stakeholders spanning policy-makers, environmental NGOs, trade unions and industry representatives for a stimulating discussion on the topic “A chemical framework fit for the future”. Marco Mensink from Cefic, the European Chemical Industry Council, recognised the need to revise REACH, but took a cautious stance in light of trade pressures and high energy costs, as well as the lack of investment. His concern about the absence of controls at borders resulting in the continuing imports of harmful chemicals was shared by Patrick ten Brink, Secretary General of the European Environmental Bureau, who insisted on the need for the EU to be firm in saying “we don’t want to poison Europe” and to focus on supporting the internal market. Esther Lynch from the European Trade Union Confederation warned against trading off simplification and protection, stressing that workers were more exposed than consumers. Jutta Paulus, Green Member of the European Parliament, insisted that regulators had a responsibility to ensure that products on the market were safe.
The second panel brought together an equally wide-ranging representation of stakeholders offering perspectives on the topic “REACH revision – closing the protection gap”. Dr. Christos Vasilakos, Head of office to MEP Tsiodras stressed that simplification was not just about reducing bureaucracy and cutting red tape but also about ensuring Europe remains a global standard setter on chemical rules. Christian Horemans, representing a Belgian health insurance fund, spoke of the high concerns around PFAS pollution in certain parts of Belgium and asked what levels of risk we as a society are prepared to accept for ourselves, our children and future generations. René Korenromp from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management in The Netherlands called for more support in favour of innovation and substitution, focusing on alternatives that do not result in additional problems in the future. There was consensus on the panel on the need to speed-up procedures in REACH to close the protection gap.
After lunch, three parallel sessions offered opportunities to deep dive into specific issues related to the REACH revision: the extension of the fast-track procedure for restricting most harmful chemicals; the need for a Mixture Assessment factor to address chemical cocktails; and the question of how REACH should manage polymers. Click on the links to access the presentations.
The third and final panel of the day focused on products under the heading “Creating a home market for circular and toxic-free products”. Theresa Kjell from ChemSec, stated that chemical regulation and the circular economy went hand in hand, as she explained that companies were currently struggling to find good-quality recycled materials because of their chemical content. Pelle Moos from BEUC, the European Consumer Organisation, stressed that people were worried about the presence of harmful chemicals in products but were not chemical experts themselves: they needed to be able to trust that products offered on the EU market were safe. He spoke of booming online sales as a huge source of consumer exposure to non-compliant products requiring urgent action. Joachim D’Eugenio, representing the European Commission, referred to the recently published report by the European Environmental Agency on the state of Europe’s environment, acknowledging that the picture does not look as rosy as we would like it to be. He spoke of the need to work on multiple policy instruments, of which REACH was one, to incentivise solutions.
We were delighted to have Ida Hannibal from the Danish Ministry of Environment to share some closing remarks on behalf of the current Danish Presidency of the European Council. She recognised the many shortcomings of the current REACH Regulation and stated that the day’s discussions had provided even more reasons why a REACH revision was necessary. The Danish presidency is ready, she said, and hopeful to be able to work on a Commission proposal before the end of the year.
Thanking all speakers and participants, our host for the day, health journalist Sue Saville, closed the event by offering the following summary: Europeans are currently not safe, sorting out the chemical crisis is an investment, not a cost, and a REACH revision is essential to protect people and help the European chemicals industry not be the cheapest globally, but the best.
