Impacts from chemicals may last for long periods - long after emissions have ceased. These stock pollution properties need to be taken into account when you make a socio-economic analysis of chemicals. That is what Associate Professor Silke Gabbert will talk about on our next FRAM-seminar.
Silke Gabbert is an Associate Professor at the Department of Social Sciences at Wageningen University and Research. Her research and teaching focuses on the economics of chemicals risk management and regulation.
At the FRAM-seminar April 23rd, Silke Gabbert will talk about advantages and disadvantages with restrictions for a certain chemical. Persistent chemicals such as PCBs, are known to poorly metabolize and degrade in ecosystems and biota. With on-going emissions, exposure concentrations in environmental media and humans accumulate over time. Impact evaluation of chemicals should therefore be based on the assessment of stock dynamics. Within the European chemicals legislation REACH, this is not the case at the moment.
If a company uses a chemical that is restricted according to REACH, the company has to show that the advantages with continuous use exceeds the disadvantages. But the companies don’t have to consider the stock pollution properties when doing this analysis. This is what Silke Gabbert is doing research on: socio-economic analysis of substances of very high concern (SVHC) under the European chemicals legislation REACH.
The seminar will be livestreamed at FRAM:s Facebookpage.