In a new report titled “Key areas of regulatory challenge 2023,” the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) outlines the areas that require further study in order to safeguard the public and the environment from dangerous chemicals. It also identifies the areas in which novel approaches are required to facilitate the move away from animal testing.
Scientific research must produce data that is pertinent to chemical regulation in order to further enhance chemical safety in the EU. ECHA has designated the following areas as research priorities in order to improve the regulatory relevance of scientific data.
- Identification of hazards for important biological effects, such as immunotoxicity, endocrine disruption, and neurotoxicity in adults and development, for which there are currently no sensitive and specific testing procedures.
- chemical contamination of the environment (bioaccumulation, biodiversity impact, exposure assessment).
- Move away from using animals in experiments (as per REACH, avoid using fish, and provide mechanistic support for toxicology studies such as carcinogenicity).
- New data on chemicals (nanomaterials, polymers, and analytical techniques to aid in compliance).