Although the European Commission has promised to ban all but the most essential of the hazardous chemicals found in commonly used products in Europe, a new report by The Guardian indicates that they are prepared to break that promise. If they do so, it will continue a pattern of government regulators failing to adequately monitor businesses that release potentially hazardous chemicals into the environment.
Despite promising to prohibit "the most harmful chemicals in consumer products, allowing their use only where essential," leaked documents obtained by The Guardian reveal that regulators have been folding to industry pressure. The document presents three options (the European Commission usually chooses the middle one) and they include restricting 1%, 10% or 50% of the 7,000 to 12,000 hazardous substances in consumer products.
