Existing Notified Chemical Substances

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Existing Notified Chemical Substances (ENCS) ( MITI inventory) is an inventory of existing chemicals in Japan . A new connection must be registered in it if it is not listed there or does not fall under any exception.

The ENCS contains approx. 20,000 chemical substances used until October 16, 1973, and approx. 5,000 tested chemical substances that were subsequently placed on the market and are not considered dangerous.

Classification

Each chemical substance is given an MITI number. (Class Reference Designation), published in The Gazetted List.

Hazardous chemical substances are kept in a pollutant register, the PRTR Chemicals List (PRTR = Pollutant Release and Transfer Register).

history

The associated law, the kagaku busshitsu shinsa kiseihō ( Japanese 化学 物質 審査 規 制 法 , English Chemical Substances Control Law , CSCL), was introduced in 1973 and changed in 1986 and 2003.

The law was in response to environmental and health problems caused by PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) in the late 1960s such as Yusho disease . These were triggered by their high bioaccumulation and their low biodegradability in the environment.

aims

In contrast to the EU and US regulations, the CSCL aims to prevent the environment from being contaminated by persistent chemical substances (substances that remain unchanged in the environment through physical, chemical or biological processes over long periods of time) that are harmful to the health of the Humans could be dangerous.

Another aim of the CSCL is to set up a test system to determine whether a substance is persistent or not before it is manufactured or imported.

The CSCL prescribes risk-based tests in Japan.

The structure of the test requirements allows the dangerous substances to be classified into three categories (Class 1 and Class 2 Specified Chemical Substances and Designated Chemical Substances) based on the test criteria biodegradability, bioaccumulation, chronic toxicity and the likelihood of environmental pollution.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ History of the Chemical Substance Control Law. METI , accessed September 28, 2011 .