Latest blog posts
Demonstrating the Reliability of Bio‐Met for Determining Compliance with Environmental Quality Standard (EQS) for Metals in Europe
October 5, 2020 by Adam Peters
Adam and Graham have been working with colleagues in Arche Consulting, NiPERA, IZA and ECI to evaluate the reliability of the simplified metal bioavailability tool bio-met for copper, nickel, and…
Deriving a bioavailability-based zinc environmental quality standard for France
September 24, 2020 by Graham Merrington
Adam, Iain and I, along with colleagues at the International Zinc Association have derived a bioavailability-based zinc Environmental Quality Standard (EQS) for France following recently updated European Technical Guidance,…
New guidance on UK REACH
September 4, 2020 by Olivia Tran
Defra published new guidance on UK REACH on 1 September1. The new framework will be administered by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and will come into effect on…
Implications for the EU Ecolabel in the UK after Brexit: an update
August 12, 2020 by Olivia Tran
The European Commission released guidance1 at the end of June on EU Ecolabels awarded by the UK Competent Authority under the Withdrawal Agreement and transitional period. Companies with EU Ecolabelled-products awarded…
Preparing for UK REACH
August 7, 2020 by Becky Marks
With just months to go until the likely implementation of UK REACH, plans are being made to prepare for the new system. Companies are focussed on understanding how UK REACH…
Genotoxicity testing – combined in vivo micronucleus and comet assays
July 28, 2020 by Kate Roylance
Genotoxicity testing is required under REACH for substances registered at Annex VII and above. The purpose of genotoxicity testing is to determine whether a substance will cause a mutagenic hazard…
Analysis of Alternatives is gaining importance in Europe
July 24, 2020 by Olivia Tran
Olivia Tran recently completed an ECHA training course on ‘analysis of alternatives’ (AoA) for hazardous substances. AoA is required to support applications for substance Restriction and Authorisation under REACH but…
ECHA report on alternatives to in vivo testing
July 8, 2020 by Rhiannon Smith
In June, ECHA issued a report to the European Commission on progress under the REACH regulation on the reduction of in vivo testing. The report discusses aspects which have been implemented by…
REACH registration dossiers: Grouping speeds up the evaluation process
July 6, 2020 by Sylwia Kosmala-Grzechnik
The second report on Integrated Regulatory Strategy, entitled ‘Grouping speeds up regulatory action’, released recently by ECHA, provides an update on the current status of registration dossiers evaluations…
ECHA SME verification
June 19, 2020 by Rhiannon Smith
One of the topics discussed in the draft motion for a resolution on chemicals strategy for sustainability published in February was requests for further support for SMEs to comply with chemical legislation.
The future of the EU chemicals strategy
June 17, 2020 by Rhiannon Smith
Last week, the EU parliament’s environment committee held a meeting to discuss the draft motion for a resolution, which lists the aims and considerations which the parliament want included…
SETAC SciCon
June 1, 2020 by Graham Merrington
wca participated in the SciCON SETAC’s 30th Annual European meeting between May the 3rd and 7th of May 2020. We were involved with presentations and posters on metals on the development…
Update on COVID-19
May 15, 2020 by Dean Leverett
In my previous blog on how wca are coping with the Covid-19 outbreak, I promised further blog updates as the situation developed. I am pleased to report that during the UK’s…
Statement on COVID-19
March 17, 2020 by Dean Leverett
At this difficult and testing time for everyone, I thought it might be useful to highlight the arrangements that wca are putting in place to deal with the Covid-19 outbreak.
Market Research for Authorisation under REACH
March 3, 2020 by Ed Stutt
ECHA has recently published a report based on a project conducted by wca at the end of last year. Working in collaboration with ECHA, Olivia and I carried out market…
Draft Regulation sets strict deadlines for registrants to update their REACH registration dossiers
February 10, 2020 by Sylwia Kosmala-Grzechnik
ECHA’s concerns that companies are not keeping their REACH registrations up to date has led to the drafting of an Implementing Regulation, setting out a deadline of 3 months for…
Conference on Current Issues in Contaminated Land
January 15, 2020 by Ed Stutt
At the end of 2019 I attended a conference on Current Issues in Contaminated Land hosted by theRoyal Society of Chemistry and the Society of Brownfield Risk…
10 years at wca
January 13, 2020 by Rhiannon Smith
At the start of a new year, and a new decade, it is a time for reflecting on the past and looking to the future. As we return at the…
Ecolabelling in the UK after Brexit
January 18, 2019 by Olivia Tran
The UK’s plan for ecolabelling after Brexit was briefly discussed in the Resources and Waste Strategy, published in December 2018. In summary, the UK will consider options…
Rinse-off Cosmetic Ecolabels: Lessons Learned
August 7, 2017 by Olivia Tran
Since the Ecolabel criteria for rinse-off cosmetics were updated in December 2014, wca have prepared and submitted a number of new applications for clients. Our experience with the …
From our blog
July 16, 2024 by Becky Brown