Scientific Committee Opinion Confirms EU Environment Risk Assessment of TBBPA
Monday 28 January 2008
On 15 January, the European Commission's Scientific Committee SCHER (1) adopted its opinion(2) on the environmental part of the TBBPA Risk Assessment, which was concluded in June 2007. The SCHER Opinion considers that "the environmental part of the risk assessment of tetrabromobisphenol-A is in general of good quality".
The SCHER in principle agrees with the conclusions presented in the Risk Assessment Report (RAR). The RAR identified no significant risk from the reactive use of TBBPA such as in epoxy resin for printed circuit boards. A risk for soil, sediment and water was confirmed at the plastic production stage when TBBPA is added to one specific type of plastics (ABS). As a result, the EU approved a Risk Reduction Strategy which addresses this risk through industrial site emissions reduction and therefore does not recommend restrictions on TBBPA's marketing and use.
The SCHER Opinion recommends conclusion i) for possible TBBPA degradation to Bisphenol-A(3) . This is already fully reflected in the RAR conclusions, which emphasized that "no risks are currently identified" for this scenario.
The Commission will reference the SCHER Opinion, together with the now closed RAR(4) and the Risk Reduction Strategy (RRS), when publishing its final Recommendation on TBBPA in the Official Journal. The conclusion of TBBPA's RAR will enable a smooth transition of TBBPA through the REACH registration procedure, as the science needed to register TBBPA is already completed.
(1) SCHER - the Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks – is in charge of questions relating to examinations of toxicity and ecotoxicity of chemicals, biochemicals and biological compounds for human health and the environment
(2) Link to the SCHER Opinion on the TBBPA Environment Risk Assessment: http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_risk/committees/04_scher/docs/scher_o_071.pdf
(3) According to the Technical Guidance Document on Risk Assessment, 2003, "conclusion (i)" means that there is a need for further information and/or testing
(4) The health part of TBBPA's RA was closed in 2005 and identified no risk
The SCHER in principle agrees with the conclusions presented in the Risk Assessment Report (RAR). The RAR identified no significant risk from the reactive use of TBBPA such as in epoxy resin for printed circuit boards. A risk for soil, sediment and water was confirmed at the plastic production stage when TBBPA is added to one specific type of plastics (ABS). As a result, the EU approved a Risk Reduction Strategy which addresses this risk through industrial site emissions reduction and therefore does not recommend restrictions on TBBPA's marketing and use.
The SCHER Opinion recommends conclusion i) for possible TBBPA degradation to Bisphenol-A(3) . This is already fully reflected in the RAR conclusions, which emphasized that "no risks are currently identified" for this scenario.
The Commission will reference the SCHER Opinion, together with the now closed RAR(4) and the Risk Reduction Strategy (RRS), when publishing its final Recommendation on TBBPA in the Official Journal. The conclusion of TBBPA's RAR will enable a smooth transition of TBBPA through the REACH registration procedure, as the science needed to register TBBPA is already completed.
(1) SCHER - the Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks – is in charge of questions relating to examinations of toxicity and ecotoxicity of chemicals, biochemicals and biological compounds for human health and the environment
(2) Link to the SCHER Opinion on the TBBPA Environment Risk Assessment: http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_risk/committees/04_scher/docs/scher_o_071.pdf
(3) According to the Technical Guidance Document on Risk Assessment, 2003, "conclusion (i)" means that there is a need for further information and/or testing
(4) The health part of TBBPA's RA was closed in 2005 and identified no risk
