Voluntary EU Risk Assessment
Throughout the world, legislation is under constant review to ensure that both humans and the environment are adequately protected from the hazardous properties of substances. Towards the end of the 1990s it became clear that, despite the huge body of information available on lead, some data gaps still existed. As a result the lead industry volunteered to conduct a comprehensive assessment of lead risks in the European Union.
In order to ensure balanced scrutiny, independent consultants were appointed to conduct the assessment and leading international experts in the field of lead were appointed to two independent scientific review panels, which periodically reviewed the work output.
The €4 million cost of the risk assessment has been met in its entirety by the lead industry. The work has helped the industry improve its knowledge of the impact of lead on both health and the environment. The information has also been useful to regulators of national and local issues.
The process of conducting the risk assessment took four years, after which draft reports on environment, health and waste were submitted to the European Commission in 2005. Since then the reports have been extensively reviewed by EU governments and by the EU's independent Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks (SCHER). Final versions of the reports were produced in 2008. A fact sheet is available.
Download Fact Sheet (162kb)
