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SIN List Appended with New Chemicals and New Online Tool

1. SIN list highlights chemicals of high concern 2. ChemSec updated SIN list and divided it into groups 3. Online searching tool SINimilarity was also introduced

Since 2008 the Substitute It Now (SIN) List has been highlighting chemicals of high concern that are likely to be subject to future EU regulation, and as a result it has been recognized as an important driver for innovation. On Oct 8th 2014, International Chemical Secretariat (ChemSec) issued the newly updated list in Brussels, which contained 28 additional chemicals for priority action and took one step further by launching SINimilarity – a tool for identifying SIN-like chemicals.

In recent decades a number of hazardous chemicals have been put under the spotlight and are targets for regulatory action and phase-out. This has often been successful, but in some cases the substitutes have later been shown to have similar hazardous properties as the problematic chemicals they replaced. Finding ways to avoid this and enable chemical substitution to spur innovation was discussed in Brussels at a conference entitled “SINnovation – keys for the future”, where policy makers, scientists, companies and investment analysts gave their views on how chemical regulation encourages innovation and how to avoid ineffective substitution.

28 substances are added to the list. Many of these are chemicals that have been used to replace better known hazardous substances, but are in fact just as problematic. For example, the hormone-disrupting chemicals Bisphenol F and Bisphenol S have now been included on the SIN List. These substances have been frequently used to replace one of the most commonly used chemicals globally, Bisphenol A. Modified versions of already regulated brominated flame retardants and fluorinated chemicals have also been added.

– Developing products without harmful chemicals is about producing for the future. This is the direction EU chemicals regulation REACH as well as industry front-runners are taking. Today’s SIN List update focuses on sustainable innovation, on developing products that are truly safer in the long run,says ChemSec director, Anne-Sofie Andersson.

To give a better overview of the chemicals, the SIN List has now also been divided into 31 groups based on structure and toxic properties, such as bisphenols, phthalates and perfluorinated compounds.

The grouping also serve as the basis for a new tool – SINimilarity. This online tool makes it possible to search among 80,000 chemicals and find out if they are similar to any of the chemicals on the SIN List.

– For chemicals that are similar to the SIN List chemicals, we recommend further investigations before use, comments Dr Lars Swanson, responsible for the grouping of SIN List chemicals at ChemSec.

– Besides facilitating the task of SIN List users, the grouping of the SIN List and the SINimilarity tool aim to spark debate about what kind of chemicals regulation we need for the future. REACH is based on a chemical-by-chemical approach, but future chemicals legislation also needs to act on groups of similar chemicals, says Dr Anna Lennquist, ChemSec toxicologist.

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