The European Environment Agency ↗ (EEA) and the European Chemicals Agency ↗ (ECHA), both partners of PARC, published a joint synthesis report in April based on a new framework composed of 25 indicators on the drivers and impacts of chemical pollution. The indicators focus on three key areas: transition to chemicals that are safe and sustainable by design, minimise and control risks from chemicals and eliminate and remediate chemical pollution.
The indicator dashboard ↗ was developed in collaboration with European Commission departments, the Joint Research Centre, and a series of European agencies.

The transition towards safer and more sustainable chemicals is progressing in some areas, while in others, it is just beginning. “This first-ever benchmarking shows that… further action is urgently needed to address the risks posed by the use of unsafe and unsustainable substances,” Leena Ylä-Mononen, executive director at the EEA, said in a statement accompanying the report. “The knowledge that is being generated in this assessment will help us shift to safe and sustainable chemicals,” she added.

Another conclusion is that we also need to increase our knowledge on human and environmental exposure to chemical pollution. Biomonitoring initiatives, such as the European Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals (PARC) will help improve our ability to assess risks to human health and the environment, indicates the report. Still, the indicators show clearly that the shift to safe and sustainable chemicals must continue and should even be accelerated.

PARC and its predecessor, the European Human Biomonitoring Initiative ↗ (HBM4EU) are both referenced in the report and the dashboard. “For instance, HBM4EU data highlighted in the dashboard indicate that teenagers in Europe face health risks from exposure to toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances ↗ (PFAS), based on studies conducted between 2014 and 2021. Of the teenagers who participated in the studies, an average of 14.3% had PFAS levels in their blood above the health-based guidance value, with two countries exceeding 20%,” explains Jeanne Vuaille, a data expert with the EEA’s biodiversity, health and resources programme. Regarding the signal on the risks of chemical mixtures for human health in Europe ↗ (Signal), the results were used to calculate the risk of chemical mixtures posed to humans in Europe, comparing two time periods: 2007-2014 and 2014-2021. Findings indicated that health risks from combined exposure cannot be ruled out, but there is a decreasing trend over time. “This suggests that policy interventions aimed at reducing exposure to prioritised chemicals in the EU might have been successful. But we need to be careful when interpreting these results since they are differences between countries in the way the samples were collected. We need more data and more harmonised ones to be able to better understand the trend,” she adds. Human exposure to bisphenols ↗ is also highlighted in the dashboard, with PARC prioritising bisphenols for further human biomonitoring in the European population in the coming years. For pesticides ↗, another chemical prioritised by PARC, a large-scale human biomonitoring survey, conducted between 2014 and 2021 as part of the HBM4EU initiative revealed that 84% of samples from the bodies of children and adults across five European countries contained residues of two or more pesticides. PARC will expand human biomonitoring of pesticides to determine safe levels of exposure and assess policy effectiveness in reducing pesticide use and risk. Click here ↗ to learn how pesticides impact human health and ecosystems in Europe.

In the joint report, the two agencies also recognised “knowledge gaps” for some substances permitted under the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) Regulation. They explained that EU authorities currently have “much better knowledge” of the hazardous properties of chemicals frequently used in large quantities. The authors also warned of “a high level of non-compliance” for some chemicals – notably phthalates in toys – despite long-standing REACH restrictions.

Meanwhile, Europe has seen little progress on cutting the presence of substances of concern in waste and secondary materials, according to the report. Substances of concern continue to be present in waste and secondary raw materials such as treated wastewater, sewage sludge and consumer goods made of recycled materials.

The report is a great example of collaboration between the two agencies. By bringing together respective expertise and experience we combined our capabilities and strengths, complementing each other – both agencies found a common ground to put data together, resulting in an impactful outcome.

Read the press release here ↗ and access the report here ↗. Access the dashboard here ↗.

Listen to ECHA’s podcast episode ↗ for a deep dive into what the main findings of this initial assessment were.