Chemical Industry Fears Over New European Laws

JAMES REYNOLDS / The Scotsman (Scotland) 11aug03

NEW European laws to protect the environment threaten to destroy Britain’s chemical industry, business leaders are claiming.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is today calling for major changes to the proposed EU chemicals regulation, claiming that the financial burden will cripple domestic businesses.

The claims were immediately dismissed by environmental organisations, who said it was a thinly veiled attempt to put profit before principles.

If the proposed EU law remains unaltered the CBI claims it would force companies to bear the cost of testing more than 30,000 substances, which could lead to thousands of jobs being lost to the Far East. The growing cumulative cost of environmental legislation covering areas such as climate change, water and pollution is already causing businesses to struggle, the CBI said.

New testing programmes under the legislation could cost up to £6 billion, impacting on all companies that use chemicals and sounding the "death knell" for companies in the chemicals industry, it said.

John Cridland, the deputy director general of the CBI, said: "The right mix of carrot and stick can produce gains for both business and the environment, but politicians must understand that these chemicals proposals fail the test of good regulation and must be redesigned.

"An extra burden on this scale will drive jobs away to countries such as China which will not have to test even if the final products are imported into the EU."

The CBI is writing to the Secretary of State for the Environment, Margaret Beckett, urging her to ensure the extent and cost of the extra work imposed by the new regulation is dramatically slashed.

Dr Dan Barlow, the head of research at Friends of the Earth Scotland, called for such "attempts to water down the legislation" to be resisted at the highest level.

"For too long many businesses have put profit before principles and the environment has suffered," Dr Barlow said.

"The kind of businesses we want are those that are prepared to take their responsibilities with communities and the environment seriously.

"The reality is that many of the thousands of chemicals in everyday use have simply not been thoroughly tested, and their impact on human health and the environment is not fully known."

source: http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/business.cfm?id=875292003 11aug03