Document oDOenggR7E6OrQJEp8VBYyQNE

federal public service HEALTH, FOOD CHAIN SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENT PFAS: EU and BE strategy 09/06/2021 Overview What are PFAS? Environmental fate and exposure Hazards PFAS in BE Regulatory actions EU CSS PFAS strategy REACH restrictions BE CCIEP stakeholder group Parliamentary resolution proposal Flanders PFAS action plan What are PFAS? PFAS = Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances Very diverse group of substances (4730 plus substances) Characterized by C-F bond Water and grease repellent characteristics Stability and thermo resistance Used for a wide variety of products: Firefighting foam Textile treatment Food contact materials Coatings Construction articles Electronics ... Source: OECD draft terminology report Environmental fate and exposure of PFAS C-F bond is extremely persistent in the environment Irreversible environmental contamination Very hard to remove from water, soil and air Widespread use in consumer products (textiles, food contact materials, cosmetics) Landfill leachate PFAS Hazards Major health concerns defined for some PFAS are: Endocrine disrupting effects Carcinogenicity Toxicity to reproduction Effects on immune system link with COVID vaccine efficiency! ... Lot of knowledge gaps! Impossible to fill in all gaps in a reasonable time PFAS in Belgium Large amounts of legacy contamination (3M site Zwijndrecht, Antwerp, Fire fighting exercise grounds, ...) Widespread contamination in water, soil and biota OVAM/VITO: Presence in soil near contamination sites VMM/BIODIEN: Presence in aquatic biota (eel, perch, mussels) Groffen et al., 2017: Highest PFAS levels in feathers ever measured Widespread presence in BE population dOMG: Human Biomonitoring studies Dufour et al., 2018: Thyroid function in newborns and mothers Source: De Standaard Sum of PFAS concentrations in eels EU and international actions federal public service HEALTH, FOOD CHAIN SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENT EU and other international actions 2012: ICCM3 identifies PFAS as emerging policy issue 2007: REACH: registrations, evaluations, restrictions,... 2008: CLP: classification and labeling 2016-2019: Development of arrowhead (grouping) approach 2019: 10 MS - Elements for EU-strategy PFASs (Large BE contribution and CIMES approval) Counsel and Parliament approval 2020: Green Deal - Chemical Strategy for Sustainability (CSS): EU-wide PFAS strategy 2021: Circular economy: not easy to include PFAS! Actors are different (OVAM textile report short-chain comment) EU ecolabel (look at cabinet answer PFAS included in the PRTR (IED) Climate change discussions (general restriction discussions) As one of the additional arguments for the restriction EU actions: CSS PFAS strategy Goal: minimise environmental and human exposure to PFAS, at all stages of their life cycle Proposed actions: PFASs need to be managed as a group. PFASs need to be phased out and only essential uses allowed until alternatives are available. Limit values need to be set in different pieces of legislation. Steps to ensure effective enforcement are needed. Environmental monitoring, awareness raising, research on alternatives, remediation and environmentally sound management of waste are also needed EU actions: REACH General PFAS restriction proposal REACH restriction proposal by 5 Member States (NL, DE, NO, SE, DK) Focus on the entire group of PFAS "Substances that contain at least one aliphatic -CF2- or -CF3 element". Persistence as main common concern Only "essential" uses can continue Scope of restriction will depend on this discussion Proposal planned to be published in 2022 Restriction entering into force: planned for 2025 CF3R R'CF2R'' Other EU and international PFAS policy REACH and CLP: Restrictions: C6 Siloxanes, C9-C14, PFHxA, Fire fighting foams, Textiles ELOC: PFBS and GENx CLP: PFOA, PFDA, PFNA, ... International POP Regulation (Stockholm Convention): PFOS and PFOA included PFHxS possibly included Global Perfluorinated Chemicals Group (OECD): information gathering (reports and databases) Latest report on the terminology of PFAS Others (responsibility of regional and other competences) (EFSA limit: group tolerable weekly intake (TWI) of 4.4 ng/kg of body weight per week) (Water Framework (WFD) and Drinking Water Directive (DWD) - 2013/39/EU and 98/83/EC) (Food Contact Materials (FCM) - 2011/10/EU) (Industrial emissions directive (IED) and Directive on Priority substances - 2013/39/EU and 2010/75/EU) (Cosmetics, Plant protection and biocidal products, OSH, ...) EU research (PARC) EU and International actions: BE involvement Involvement MRBC: Representing and negotiating for BE at EU and international discussions Implementing EU regulations in BE (CLP, REACH, food, pesticides, ...) + enforcement Some aspects are managed by the regions Scientific expertise (CLH and substance evaluations, restrictions preparations, SVHC identification, PBT expert group, PFAS working group, ED expert group, ...) Information exchange and cooperation through CCIEP, BCR, CIMES SUP discussions "Greener alternatives" National actions federal public service HEALTH, FOOD CHAIN SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENT National actions: short-chain PFAS subgroup Double mandate: CCIEP and CIE (national EU and international) Working on a report for short-chain PFAS substances Experts participating in workshops and meetings on PFAS actions in Belgium (Minaraad, etc.) BE actions: Parliamentary resolution proposal - 2/10/2020 First proposal amended after remarks on competences "Betreffende meer transparantie inzake de productie en het gebruik van PFAS" Government and industry have to cooperate to start investigations and collect data Government purchases have to ensure that PFAS containing products, or products made using PFAS, should be excluded from purchasing Infrastructure has to be built to safely transport and expose of PFAS Proposal Mandatory labeling requirement Obligate companies that produce PFAS to do toxicological tests Obligate PFAS producing companies to make available the chemical structure of the PFAS they produce Obligate PFAS producing companies to use standardized methods to detect PFAS Expand the product responsibility of industry Furthermore Start collaboration between competent authorities and industry To make public register which lists PFAS containing products Publish yearly statistics of production, import and export of PFAS products No longer purchase non-essential products containing PFAS or made using PFAS federal public service HEALTH, FOOD CHAIN SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENT BE actions: Parliamentary resolution proposal - 2/10/2020 "Betreffende meer transparantie inzake de productie en het gebruik van PFAS" Government and industry have to cooperate to start investigations and collect data Regional competence Government purchases have to ensure that PFAS containing products, or products made using PFAS, should be excluded from purchasing Hard to check Infrastructure has to be built to safely transport and expose of PFAS expensive and technical challenges Proposal Mandatory labeling requirement large number of products and limited analytical methods, interesting for REACH/SCIP Obligate companies that produce PFAS to do toxicological tests already provision under REACH, could go under NAPED Obligate PFAS producing companies to make available the chemical structure of the PFAS they produce call foreseen in the Green Deal, most efficient through EU research and standardization Obligate PFAS producing companies to use standardized methods to detect PFAS no standardized methods? Expand the product responsibility of industry EPR, mostly regional competence Furthermore Start collaboration between competent authorities and industry To make public register which lists PFAS containing products Publish yearly statistics of production, import and export of PFAS products No longer purchase non-essential products containing PFAS or made using PFAS Conclusion: - Most are covered by other (developing) acti (REACH, CLP and CSS) - Others are regional competences - Faster action: article 119 of REACH Other BE actions Federal actions Royal Decree of 11 May 1992: Food Contact Materials FAVV: monitoring study on PFAS in foodstuffs Regional actions Flanders PFAS action plan OVAM/VITO: Proposed limit values for soil dOMG/VITO/VMM/OVAM: (Bio)monitoring studies Walloon region: BIODIEN monitoring project However, regulatory action and data are lacking Research projects: Fluorex: follow-up on the EFSA opinion BELSPO proposal: link with NAPED Response to parliament request UA, KUL, CHU Liege, ... In conclusion Action to ban the use and production of PFAS substances PFAS are a widespread problem that requires action on all regulatory levels (regional, federal, EU and international) to prevent further emissions and potential hazards Until now, BE has a strong position in EU and international discussions Collaboration with the regions will remain essential (good collaboration between administrations) Thank you for your attention federal public service HEALTH, FOOD CHAIN SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENT be