Chemical products, such as medicines, food additives, pesticides, fertilisers, cosmetics, paints and varnishes, detergents, cleansers, disinfectants, plastics and other new compounds, have had a lasting effect on our living conditions. Modern society cannot be imagined without them.

The production, application and disposal of chemical products can lead to their introduction into the air, water and soil and, depending on the exposure situation and the toxicologic and ecotoxicologic properties of the substance, and can include contamination of man and the environment.

As a consequence, the German legislature issued the Chemicals Act for the protection of human health and the environment in 1980. During preliminary work on the Chemicals Act, it proved impossible to include all chemical substances already on the market in the legal regulations. Thus the German Chemicals Act differentiates between “existing” and “new” chemical substances.

Whereas, for new substances, the Chemicals Act prescribes in detail which test reports, documents and information are to be presented to the assessment agencies when registering a new substance, for existing chemicals it merely authorizes the German Government to have these substances checked for their risk to health and the environment, should suspicion arise. In assessing existing chemicals, the German Government considered it wise to seek the advice of a neutral scientific committee, which should be established within an independent scientific institution. For this they chose the German Chemical Society (GDCh).

The Advisory Committee on Existing Chemicals of Environmental Relevance (BUA)

In the 1982 agreement between the German government, scientific community and chemical industry the Advisory Committee on Existing Chemicals of Environmental Relevance (BUA) was established as a committee of the German Chemical Society (GDCh). This committee, made up equally of representatives of the chemical industry, scientific community and agencies, was given the task of drawing up a concept for the systematic evaluation of existing chemicals.

Thus, the BUA assumed essentially the following responsibilities within the framework of the German programme on existing chemicals:

•  Advising the German government
• Drafting a procedure of selection/priority setting
• Establishing BUA priority lists
• Drafting substance reports
• Assessing substances from a scientific standpoint
• Recommending further tests where data gaps exist
• Scientifically assessing the tests conducted
• Publishing the results as BUA Reports