Matt Allen, product manager for elemental analysers at SciMed, explains why testing water for halogen species will be a serious consideration in the near future

Industry has come a long way towards sustainability in the last century. Gone are the days when processing plants would belch unfiltered arsenic and sulphurous fumes into the skies and pour black, smoking waste into rivers.

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) has announced a new tool designed the progress of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) New Chemicals Program under the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). “We want this tool to encourage more accountability and increased transparency in new chemical reviews,” the association stated.

Chemours, DuPont and Corteva have reached an agreement in principle to resolve all per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS)-related drinking water claims of a defined class of public water systems that serve “the vast majority of the US population”. They will pay about $592 million, $400 million and $193 million respectively into a settlement fund by 12 June.

Singapore-based Sustainable Chemistry for the Textile Industry (SCTI), an alliance of six major producers of leather and textile chemicals promoting sustainable chemistry in the industry, has joined forces with the chemical industry’s Together for Sustainability (TfS) initiative. They said that they will “collaborate in driving convergence in standards and methodologies and inspire industry action for a better future”.

ECHA has published its fifth triennial report on the use of alternatives to testing on animals for REACH. Based on data from 12,439 registered substances up until 31 July 2022, it concluded that progress is being made and alternatives are widely used when assessing the safety of chemical substances.

Georg Winkler, a senior partner at McKinsey & Company, and Alexander Kei, a partner at the firm, explore how sustainability can secure the competitiveness of Europe’s chemical industry*

In the 20 years to 2020, the European chemical industry delivered strong financial performance, providing total return to shareholders (TRS) similar to its North American peers and higher than Asian peers. However, since 2020, chemical companies in Europe have fallen behind their global competitors.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed a ban on most uses of methylene chloride (or dichloromethane) under the Toxic Substances Control Act, on the grounds that exposure can lead to severe health impacts. This makes it the second chemical, after asbestos, to undergo risk management under the reformed process created by the 2016 Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act.