HEAL has been working for the protection of public health in the new European chemicals legislation since the law was being developed and decided upon in the European institutions.
HEAL, together with other public interest groups, campaigned for the REACH law to enact 5 main principles:
- Play It Safe: replace hazardous chemicals with safer alternatives whenever they exist
- Information Improves Trust: require sufficient data to make it possible to identify harmful chemicals and safer alternatives
- Quality Counts: Require sufficient independent auditing and regulatory quality control to guarantee the reliabi32lity of information the companies submit on chemicals.
- A Legal Guarantee: Ensure that the chemical industry has the responsibility for the safety of their products (Duty of Care).
- Transparency for Consumer Products: Establish a right to know for citizens about harmful chemicals in products.
These principles continue to inform HEAL’s work on REACH to ensure that it’s implementation provides the strongest possible protection of environmental health.
To do this, HEAL collaborates with other public interest organisations in the European Chemicals Agency committees and other REACH fora, campaigns on harmful chemicals of particular importance, and the intersection with other relevant EU and international legislation.
