In the News

• Formacare is confident that after the RAC has considered the latest science they will see that the weight of evidence does not support the suggested link with nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC).

Formaldehyde is currently classified as the weakest class of carcinogenic hazard. It is undergoing reclassification under the new Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 on Classification, Labelling and Packaging of Substances and Mixtures (CLP), which entered into force on 20 January 2009. Under this Regulation, Member States may send proposals for the harmonised classification of substances that are carcinogenic, mutagenic, and toxic for reproduction or respiratory sensitisers.  France submitted their proposal for the re-classification of formaldehyde on 28 September 2011. The proposal has been made public through the ECHA website today.

The proposal cites a relationship to nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC).  NPC is a rare cancer of the upper respiratory tract, and is very rare in Europe.  One epidemiology study has been carried out in the UK on nearly 15000 workers exposed to formaldehyde.  For a general population sample of that size two cases of NPC would be expected, however the study reported just one; the results showed  no indication that NPC might be related to formaldehyde exposure.  To the best of our knowledge there are no cases of NPC related to formaldehyde exposure in the European work place.

This is the second proposal for re-classification of formaldehyde submitted by France; the first in 2005 was not accepted.

The current proposal will be evaluated by the Risk Assessment Committee (RAC) of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). The RAC is made up of representatives from all EU Member States.

The REACH Registration dossier for formaldehyde has been submitted and accepted.

Contact

Dr Phil Hope

Secretary General, Formacare

The European Chemical Industry Council - Cefic

+32 2 676 7230

pho@cefic.be