Most of the Candle Makers are now aware that candles, room diffusers, room sprays and other scented home products fall under CLP regulations and needs appropriate labelling, to warn consumers about potential hazards. But have you ever wonder why and when such a regulation has evaluated? Let's start with a brief history of chemical regulation.
The publication of Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" in 1962 is known as an impulse for first environmental movements. The lack of appropriate regulation and testing of chemicals relisted to the environment has led to uncontrolled contamination of our planet. Few decades later the EU decided that new chemicals regime was needed. The main objective was to address the knowledge gap on thousands of chemical substances and to make chemical companies do the sufficient testing before chemicals goes on the market. Since then, in 2001, the European Commission adopted a White Paper which lead to REACH.
REACH was established in 2007, and stands for registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals. REACH was a proposal for a major system to test large amount of chemicals for their effects on human health and environment. Their main purpose was to protect people and the environment from the hazards of chemicals.
The key elements of REACH are:
To stop the use of chemicals that are of very high concern and make chemicals on EU market safe to use
Create the largest chemical database and make it available to everyone
Chemicals contaminating environment and those most harmful should be replaced with safer, less toxic alternative
Consumers and manufacturers have the right to know which chemicals are in what products. Better knowledge and regulation of harmful chemicals should protect workers, consumers and the environment, make recycling easier, and encourages industry to develop safer alternatives
No data no market. If the manufacturer does not have information about safety of chemical, it should not be used in consumer products.
So how does the CLP regulation links to REACH regulations? The CLP regulation is a part of REACH and it ensures that the hazards and potential risks presented by chemicals within product are clearly communicated to consumers through appropriate labelling. (You can find more information about correct CLP labelling over here). The CLP labels are here to warn us and protect us from potential risks of using certain products. That's why it's so important to make sure accurate classification of products is made and appropriate CLP labels attached to the products. We must remember that we are also consumers using every day products containing hazardous chemicals and we all want to be safe and be aware of potential hazards of using certain products, so let's make sure the products we are placing on the market are safe to use.