We are pleased to announce that the 2021 Yearbook is now available for download on the EuChemS website!
The 2021 Yearbook is EuChemS annual report which looks back at the activities and achievements carried out by the European Chemical Society and its Professional Networks over the year. The Yearbook explores from every angle the relevant and impactful initiatives and actions of EuChemS in 2021 in policy areas, meetings, events, as well as awards and other science communication accomplishments. This publication was coordinated by the EuChemS Secretariat team. Floris Rutjes, EuChemS President, offers in his editorial an overview of the activities of the year, highlights the many successful collaborations that ensued and gives insights on the direction to follow for the months ahead.
We invite you to read and download the EuChemS Yearbook 2021 here.
The EuChemS @ #GWB2022 webinar will take place on Wednesday 16 February 2022 (10:00 am CET) and the organising team behind this event prepared a highly interactive webinar. Attendees will be invited to get actively involved in converstion with our speakers on topics related to the leaky pipeline. Furthermore, we will provide an opportunity for the attendees to network among themselves and to share their views on the necessity to have women in senior positions in STEM with our speakers.
It is not too late to register! We are looking forward ‘meeting’ you there.
More information about the programme and the speakers is available here.
The European Parliament endorsed the content of the agreement reached with the Council of the European Union in October 2021, which goal is to make the European Medicines Agency (EMA) more effective in tackling shortages of medicines and medical devices by increasing the powers of the EU’s medicines regulator.
Two “shortages steering groups,” for medicines and medical devices respectively will be set up and will meet not only on a regular basis, but also whenever the situation requires, such as in the preparation for or during a public health emergency. The agency will also set up a public webpage with information on shortage of critical medicines and medical devices.
During a public health emergency, sponsors of clinical trials conducted in the EU will be required to make the study protocol publicly available in the EU clinical trials register at the start of the trial, as well as a summary of the results. When a medicinal product is granted marketing authorisation, the EMA will publish product information with details of the conditions of use and clinical data received.
The aim is to better equip the EMA to monitor and mitigate shortages of medicinal products and medical devices considered to be critical to address public health emergencies.
Following the final vote in plenary, the text will be published soon in the EU Official Journal, and the regulation to increase the powers of the European Medicines Agency will come into force on 1 March 2022.
The 5th United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5) session will take place in Nairobi on 28 February 2022. This event will address the development of a legally binding international treaty on plastic pollution between UN countries. The objective of the treaty is to reduce the discharge of plastics into the environment by covering all stages of the plastic life cycle and by adopting a circular economy approach to plastics.
Chemical pollution is an urgent, critical issue with harmful effects such as biodiversity loss and climate change. A recent study has shown that chemical pollution has crossed a planetary boundary, which means that chemicals are a serious problem disturbing the Earth’s systems, and large scale or irreversible environmental changes could arise. the management of chemicals and plastic pollution is poor and because of this, it is threatening critical systems that we depend on.
The study shows that plastics and pesticides production trends have grown, and it is expected that this production will continue to rise. The UNEA-5 is expected to tackle plastic pollution over its entire lifetime, so that the system so it becomes more sustainable and less likely to threaten the planet.
We invite you to read more on the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-5.2) here and more about the recent study on chemical pollution here.
The Candidate List of substances of very high concern has been recently updated and it includes 4 new substances. One of the four substances has hormone-disrupting properties in humans and is used in the cosmetic industry. Two of the substances are used as rubbers, lubricants, and sealants, and have been added into the list because of their adverse effects on fertility. The fourth one has been described as a harmful chemical for the environment due to its persistent, bio-accumulative, and toxic effects.
The list, developed by the European Chemical Agency (ECHA), now contains 223 entries for chemicals (or groups of chemicals) that can harm people or the environment. The inclusion of any chemical substance in the list means that its use is forbidden unless a company receives authorisation from the European Commission. Companies have legal obligations if any of the chemical substances from the Candidate List is included in their products. Suppliers, importers, and producers of articles containing a Candidate List substance > 0.1 % (weight by weight), must notify ECHA under the Waste Framework Directive, within six months from the date it has been included in the list. They must also provide sufficient information to customers and consumers to allow safe use (in the form of a safety data sheet).
The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) and the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) have recently held a joint public hearing on “The impact of the Farm to Fork Strategy on agriculture and food systems.” The aim of the hearing, which was comprised of two panels, was to discuss the actual impact of the Strategy, its links to other policies and the way forward to a sustainable food system.
The first panel focused on the general impacts of the Strategy as assessed by the American Economic Research Services and the Wageningen University and Research Centre. Some of the conclusions of their assessment are that achieving the EU’s Green Deal objectives may lead to a reduction of livestock production in the order of 10 to 15% and that fertilizer surplus reduction and climate measures are likely to become main constraining factors to EU agricultural production.
The second panel, led by members from the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) and the European Agriculture Initiative at the “Institut du Développement Durable et des Relations Internationales” (IDDRI), looked at adaptation strategies. They stated that there is an urgent need to redirect policies to serve long-term sustainability goals, building a robust and strategic framework for food system resilience and a deeper accountability and engagement for change from stakeholders.
We invite you to watch the recording of this hearing here.
On Thursday 10 February, the members of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) adopted a report on the proposal for a regulation on batteries and waste batteries.
This proposition defines a set of rules to govern the entire battery product life cycle, from design to disposal of batteries. MEPs also proposed introducing a new category of batteries: “batteries for ‘light means of transport’ (LMT)’ (e.g., batteries in e-bikes). Amongst others, MEPs call for:
producing more sustainable batteries with minimum levels of raw materials;
designing easy removal and replacement systems for consumers and introducing common charger standards;
implementing global value chain standards;
increasing the batteries waste management target to 70% by 2025.
This report was presented by MEP Simona Bonafè, the rapporteur. As a reminder, MEP Bonafè presented the new EU Sustainable Batteries Regulation during the EuChemS policy workshop on the lithium element, held on 1 December 2021. You can watch her intervention on the EuChemS YouTube channel.
Two new initiatives have recently been presented by the European Commission with the aim of increasing the contribution of universities and other higher education institutions to face Europe’s major challenges such as climate change, the digital transformation, and aging population. The Commission believes that the entire higher education sector has a unique position at the crossroads of education, research, and innovation, in shaping sustainable and resilient economies, and supporting universities on the provision of high-quality life-long learning opportunities with a focus on the most needed skills and competences to face today’s economic and societal demands.
The first proposal, the European strategy for universities, proposes a set of actions to support Europe’s universities towards achieving four objectives: strengthen the European dimension of higher education and research, consolidate universities as lighthouses of our European way of life, empower universities as key actors of change in the green and digital transition and reinforce universities as drivers of EU’s global role and leadership.
The second proposal focuses on building bridges for effective European higher education cooperation, by facilitating the implementation of joint transnational educational programmes and activities, pooling capacity, and resources, or awarding joint degrees. Member states are invited to act and create appropriate conditions at national level for enabling such closer and sustainable transnational cooperation.
Read more on the next steps for both strategies here
In 2022, Nicola Armaroli, Cristiana Radulescu and Slavica Ražić started their mandate as elected members of the EuChemS Executive Board, following elections during the 2021 EuChemS General Assembly, held online on 21 October 2021.
EuChemS continues to look forward to the many upcoming activities contributing to the progression of the chemical sciences in Europe kicked off by the renewed Executive Board. We reiterate our thanks to the former Executive Board members whose mandates ended on 31 December 2021, namely Kenneth Ruud and Livia Simon Sarkadi.
Discover more about the role of the EuChemS Executive Board and its members here.
The European Chemical Society (EuChemS) signed the Manifesto on ‘Research and Innovation for the Future of Europe’, supporting the goals and objectives of this initiative by promoting research and innovation within the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE), and beyond.
This manifesto, released in November 2021, intends to call on the CoFoE to discuss and deepen research and innovation issues over the months to come, to place R&I at the core of the debate on the EU’s future challenges and priorities.
As a reminder, the CoFoE was launched in spring 2021 and is expected to reach its conclusions in the first half of 2022.
On the occasion of the Global Women’s Breakfast 2022 #GWB2022, an IUPAC initiative, the European Chemical Society (EuChemS) is pleased to invite you to join its own online breakfast on Wednesday 16 February 2021, from 10:00 to 11:30 CET.
Our distinguished speakers, Professor Dr. Lutgarde Buydens, Professor Lesley Yellowlees, and Dr. Jovana V. Milić, will address the necessity to have women in senior positions in STEM. The webinar will be chaired by Pilar Goya, EuChemS Vice-President and Chair of the EuChemS Task Group on Inclusion and Diversity – initiator of this breakfast.
You are invited to send questions for the speakers and share your ideas on this topic in advance of the event. Get in touch with us!
We kindly invite you to register for the event ➡️ HERE
In December 2021, the Slovenian presidency of the EU Council and the European Parliament reached a provisional deal to update the carcinogens and mutagens directive. This EU law aims to protect workers from exposure risks to carcinogenic and mutagenic substances.
This provisional agreement is part of the European Commission’s commitment to fighting cancer under Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and follows up the Commission’s proposal to limit workers’ exposure to cancer-causing chemicals, launched in September 2020. According to the Commission’s Press Release, ‘about 120,000 work-related cancer cases occur as a result of exposure to carcinogens at work in the EU’ every year.
Protecting workers is our priority.
Congratulations to @EU2021SI and @EPSocialAffairs for reaching a deal on the Carcinogens and Mutagens Directive (CMD4).
This is an important step towards a higher protection of around 1 million workers from dangerous chemical substances.
Exposure limits for acrylonitrile and nickel compounds will be set and the limits for benzene exposure will be lowered. Under this agreement, reprotoxic substances will be covered by the carcinogens and mutagens directive.
The next steps relate to the examination and endorsement of the proposal by the Council’s Permanent Representatives Committee. Voting in the Council and the European Parliament would follow at a later stage.
The report of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) 2021 annual Stakeholder Forum, held online on 9 and 10 November 2021, has been released. Representatives of the registered stakeholder organisations, EFSA’s Management and Senior Board, EFSA’s Senior Management, scientific and communication officers, observers from sister Agencies and the European Commission gathered to discuss EFSA’s structure, including the renewed Stakeholder Engagement Approach, food safety ecosystems and the stakeholders’ role.
Some of the outcomes of the Forum are the following:
updated Stakeholder Engagement Approach (SEA) focusing on efficient topic-based collaboration;
launch of a new digital platform to facilitate stakeholder engagement;
elaboration of strategic developments within and around EFSA;
On 7 and 9 January 2022, the European Citizens’ Panel on Climate Change, Environment and Health met for one last time during hybrid meetings – online and in Warsaw, Poland. This European Citizens’ Panel is a citizen-led process of the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE). During these events, about 200 citizens from all EU countries gathered to address challenges related to climate, the environment, and health in Europe. They adopted 51 recommendations, to be taken forward during the Conference Plenary, scheduled at the end of January, during which the CoFoE final proposals will continue to be shaped.
The recommendations cover many topics such as the fields of biodiversity and food safety by including recommendations such as investing more research into green and sustainable solutions, finding natural alternatives to pesticides, and requiring declarations on the use of hormonal substances and endocrine disruptors in food production.
Concerning research and innovation in Europe, the citizens’ panel is requesting the following:
further developing and synchronising already existing health R&I programmes and making academic outcomes and results freely available in all member states;
increasing the EU budget dedicated for joint research and innovation projects around health;
Encouraging research and development, with funding schemes, to introduce more sustainable and affordable products within the EU market.
You can read the full list of recommendations here.
