In November, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) proposed the inclusion of several new substances of very high concern (SVHCs) in the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) Authorization List. The list is made up of SVHCs, which ECHA defines as “substances that may have serious and often irreversible effects on human health and the environment.” The agency recommends adding the following substances to the Authorization List: 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid, dihexyl ester, branched and linear; dihexyl phthalate; trixylyl phosphate; sodium perborate; perboric acid, sodium salt; sodium peroxometaborate; orange lead (lead tetroxide); lead monoxide (lead oxide); pentalead tetraoxide sulphate; and tetralead trioxide sulphate.

ECHA prioritized these chemicals from its Candidate List for Authorization due to their high volume and widespread uses. According to the agency, these SVHCs are toxic for reproduction. A list of chemicals previously recommended by ECHA for inclusion in the Authorization List is .

ECHA’s currently contains 169 substances. Identifying a substance as an SVHC and including it in the Candidate List is the first step of the authorization procedure under the EU’s REACH regulation. REACH is the EU regulation on the safe use of chemicals, which aims to control risks resulting from the use of SVHCs and to ensure that those substances are replaced where possible.

For more information, see ECHA’s .