ChemRegs Newsletter – May 2022
Consultation on Exposure Limits for PAH
The European Chemical Agency (ECHA) has launched a consultation on a scientific report for the evaluation of occupational exposure limit values (OELV) of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in the workplace.
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) constitute a large class of compounds. They are formed by incomplete combustion of organic material, such as coal and wood, and are released to the environment via natural and man-made sources.
The main natural sources of PAH release in the environment include forest fires and volcanic activity. Primary man-made sources of environmental exposure include industrial emissions, vehicle exhaust, domestical heating, gas cooking, smoke from open fireplaces and cigarette smoking. Man-made sources provide a much greater release volume than natural sources; the largest single source being the burning of wood in homes (SCOEL, 2016).
Studies of these various sources have shown that the PAH are mainly responsible for their carcinogenic potential. The main routes for occupational exposure to PAH are inhalation and skin contact, and absorbed PAH are quickly transported by blood and lymph to other tissues and especially to tissues with high lipid content. PAH can also cross the placenta barrier.
There are numerous PAH, either monoconstituent or more complex chemicals, classified as Carc. 1A (e.g., coal tar, coal tar pitch high temperature) or Carc. 1B (e.g, Benzo-a-pyrene (BaP), benzo(a)anthracene, benzo(a)fluoranthene), creosote oil), Muta. 1B (e.g, BaP, benzo(d,e,f)chrysene, Tar oils, brown-coal). It has therefore been proposed to use BaP as a marker substance to be used for carcinogenic PAH substances, including PAH mixtures resulting from incomplete combustion and pyrolysis or organic material.
At the moment, no OELV has been adopted for BaP or PAH mixtures containing BaP at EU Level. However, OELs do exist in various EU Member States as well as outside the EU at a national level.
There are also no legally binding Biological Limit Values (BLVs) for PAH metabolites. Some countries have recommended biomonitoring of PAH exposure and have set a guidance or reference value for urinary 1-OHP, which has been considered as indicator for PAH exposure. The UK has a biological monitoring guidance value of 4 μmol 1-OHP/mol creatinine (approx. 8 μg 1-OHP (after hydrolysis)/g creatinine) based on the 90th percentile value of a survey of workplaces with exposure to PAH (Unwin et al., 2006, HSE, 2020).
The ECHA Scientific report is available from here and the deadline for comments is 11 July 2022.
UK REACH & GB CLP – Consolidated texts now available
New official consolidated versions of the UK REACH and GB CLP legislation are now available on the legislation.gov.uk website.
UK REACH came into force on 1 January 2021 incorporating the text of the original EU REACH Regulation and 5 UK statutory instruments amending the EU REACH regulation.
The National Archives has now updated the text, thereby merging all the amendments and the original EU text into a single piece of legislation, making it quicker and easier for stakeholders to check the legislation.
Likewise, consolidated texts have also been published for the GB CLP Regulation, and the cosmetics products legislation, which has been copied from the EU Regulation on cosmetic products.
The consolidated versions can be found at:
UK REACH – https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2006/1907/contents
GB CLP – https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2008/1272/contents#
Cosmetics products – https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2009/1223/contents#
For more information on anything in this Newsletter, please contact us at info@chemregs.co.uk