The German Cabinet agreed to end the sale of single-use plastic items by July 3, 2021, bringing it in line with a European Union directive intended to reduce the amount of plastic waste. The move means the sale of single-use cutlery, plates, stirring sticks and balloon holders, as well as polystyrene cups and boxes, will be banned by then.

In October 2019, the 14th ATP (Adaptation to Technical Progress) to the CLP regulation, which includes amendments to Annexes II, III and VI, has been adopted by the European Commission. One of the amendments includes the annex VI entry for titanium dioxide (CAS 13463-67-7) as a carcinogenic category 2 by inhalation route in powder form. This will apply to titanium dioxide in powder form containing 1% or more of particles with a diameter ≤ 10 μm. The classification also requires that mandatory product labelling and warnings will be required for mixtures containing titanium dioxide.
Titanium dioxide is widely used across multiple industries. For example, titanium dioxide is used for the manufacture of chemicals, plastic products, textile, leather or fur, wood and wood products, pulp, paper and paper products, rubber products, coatings and printing inks.
This amendment has been put forward to the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers who will have a couple of months to raise any objections. If there are no objections, this amendment will come into force mid-2021.

The European Chemicals Agency has included four more substances on its REACH candidate list of Substances of Very High Concerns (SVHCs), which now contains 205 chemicals. The list comprises of substances that may have serious effects on human health or the environment and which are candidates for eventual inclusion in the Authorization list (Annex XIV).
The substances included in the Candidate List for authorisation on 16 January 2020 are:
• Diisohexyl phthalate (CAS 71850-09-4) – added due to its toxicity to reproduction
• 2-benzyl-2-dimethylamino-4'-morpholinobutyrophenone (CAS 119313-12-1) – added due to its toxicity to reproduction
• 2-methyl-1-(4-methylthiophenyl)-2-morpholinopropan-1-one (CAS 71868-10-5) – added due to its toxicity to reproduction)
• Perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS) and its salts – added as it causes probable serious effects to human health and the environment

California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has issued a Proposition 65 safe use determination (SUD) for exposures to crystalline silica from four specific wood filler products. This determination relates to four Woodwise products, designed for use on hardwood floors, that contain crystalline silica in small amounts.

An app is being launched across the EU that allows consumers to scan products for substances of very high concern (SVHCs). The app – Check Chemistry – has been developed as part of the pan-European AskREACH project. Consumers will be able to use their mobile phones to scan a product’s barcode and gain access to this information.

A new measure signed into law on 7 Feb by Gov. Andrew Cuomo will enact new regulations on chemicals found in children’s products sold in New York state. The Child Safe Products Act creates and maintains lists of dangerous or questionable chemicals and requires manufacturers to report any substances used in their products. By 2023, the state will ban the sale of products that use certain chemicals, including asbestos, and certain flame retardants. The Department of Environmental Conservation is responsible for notifying consumers of the presence of dangerous chemicals.

China is stepping up restrictions on the production, sale and use of single-use plastic products, according to the state planner, as it seeks to tackle one of the country’s biggest environmental problems. Plastic bags to be banned in all major cities by end of 2020, and banned in all cities and towns in 2022, says state planner.