Monthly Briefing – May 2011 issue

In this month's briefing:

• Mamta Patel hears why extended safety data sheets (eSDSs) are a critical business issue and how companies are responding to the challenges they present;

• Sean Milmo looks at what governments are doing to try and measure combined exposure to different substances and cumulative exposures to the same substance;

• the outcome of a workshop on an EU-funded project on in silico alternative test methods is summarised by Ludger Benighaus and Emilio Benfenati;

• ChemSec's Jerker Ligthart argues that the EU should do more to restrict endocrine disrupters and use the latest version of the SIN List;

• Emma Chynoweth hears both sides of the debate about whether we are sureconsumer products containing nanosilver are safe;

• pharmaceutical companies are continuing to use green chemistry to improve process efficiency and design drugs with minimal environmental impact, reports Emma Davies;

• Companies producing and selling cosmetics in China continue to face a complex and inconsistent regulatory regime, says Tony Stovold;

• the recent POPS convention meeting saw the EU propose the addition of three substances, writes Melanie Ashton;

• In this month's legal spotlight, Jean-Philippe Montfort and Heng Li of law firm Mayer Brown explain how to notify candidate list substances in articles;

• In the Guest Column spot, Sylvie Lemoine, AISE technical and regulatory affairs director, says the application of the CLP Regulation to mixtures such as cleaning products may not mean all product labels are more meaningful.