JAPAN TIGHTENS CHEMICAL CONTROLS

Abstract

IN MAY, THE JAPANESE PARLIAMENT adopted an amendment to its chemical substances control law that, starting next April, requires producers and importers of chemicals to test their products for ecotoxicity. The requirement is in addition to existing tests for biodegradation and bioaccumulation. Although the amendment enjoys broad public support, Japan's chemical industry expects that compliance will be unnecessarily onerous. The Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) had pointed out in a January 2002 report that Japanese laws lagged international standards by not requiring ecotoxicity studies on chemicals. Keiichi Yumoto, deputy director of the chemical safety office at Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry (METI), was already studying ways to amend Japan's 1973 chemical substances control law when the OECD report came out. He says OECD's assessment brought new urgency to his work. Japan is an active participant in OECD's work on evaluating the safety of industrial chemicals. For...