What is the industry doing to reduce the health and environmental impact of aromatics? What are the legal standards the industry has to meet?

The chemical industry as a whole is very strictly regulated. Aromatics producers, in particular, have to comply with a wide body of legislation, both national and European. Governments and the EU have strict regulations on consumer and environmental protection, occupational health, chemical processes and transport and the management of chemical substances. All aromatic substances were registered in 2010 as part of the first Phase of the EU REACH regulation and their registration dossiers are publicly available on ECHA’s dissemination portal. The aromatics industry, via the LOA Consortium remains in regular contact with ECHA and those EU member states involved in overseeing the progression of the registration dossiers through the various REACH evaluation and updates processes.

As well as abiding by existing legislation, aromatics producers, and indeed the whole of the chemical industry, are committed to improving its management of chemicals and chemical processes through the worldwide Responsible Care programme, the world-wide chemical industry's commitment to continuous improvement in all aspects of health, safety and environment performance including openness in communication about its activities and achievements.

Product Stewardship is part of this initiative, and allows to monitor and then manage products’ impact on health and environment from the moment it leaves the producer’s door to the time it is delivered, with strict and detailed instructions of safe use, to the customer.
We all want chemicals to be as harmless as possible to the environment and our own health. For this reason, the chemical industry has long sought to ensure that its products are safe. Like the rest of society, we want to be satisfied that chemicals, properly used, are as risk-free as possible.
If you want to know more about the efforts of the industry to improve its management of chemicals and chemical processes, click here. You might also want to learn about the international "Long-range Research Initiative", which funds independent research into the interaction between chemicals, human health and the environment.