Europe's consumer health industry is faced with proliferating regulations under the EU's Green Deal policy program. Proposed revisions to the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive, for example, expect pharmaceutical and cosmetics manufacturers to pay for the removal of micro-pollutants that are mostly flushed into the wastewater system by consumers. While the European Commission says it is “sympathetic” to industry's concerns, such as those raised at the AESGP Annual Meeting and in recent publications, its director for zero pollution and green cities, Veronica Manfredi, stressed that “there are no excuses, there can be no business as usual” given the urgency of the situation. 

“While the evaluation of such a broad proposal with thousands of substances, and many uses, will be challenging, we are ready,” says ECHA director for risk assessment Peter van der Zandt. Prepared by authorities in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, the restriction proposal has been handed over to ECHA’s scientific committees.

The European Commission should extend the proposed six-year deadline “significantly” for replacing microplastics in leave-on cosmetics such as sunscreens and nix microplastic labeling requirements for makeup, lip and nail products, says the Personal Care Products Council’s executive VP of global strategies Francine Lamoriello, calling the task before industry “huge.”