The Environmental Protection Authority is pressing ahead with its programme of work to create a modern chemical management system for New Zealand.

The approach features in the EPA’s latest Annual Report alongside key activities that span consumer safety around hazardous substances, its risk assessment approach; an extensive chemical reassessments programme and a prototype chemical atlas to map New Zealand’s chemical loading by geographic region.

The authority’s Annual Report covers a wide range of activities including:

• The introduction and issuing of Caution Notices that signal to New Zealanders when extra vigilance is needed around the use of certain common chemicals.
• The Safer Homes Programme which aims to help families stay safe around household chemical products.
• Workshops for importers, suppliers and operators of low-cost stores to promote a better understanding of their obligations under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (HSNO) Act.
• The public release of the decision to grant, subject to conditions, marine consents and marine discharge consents to Trans-Tasman Resources Ltd. This set a record of 13,733 submissions.
• Two Boards of Inquiry for the East West Link and Northern Corridor Proposals of National Significance, both in Auckland.
• The investigation into fire-fighting foams manufactured using PFOS or PFOA.
• The approval of a genetically-modified virus Telomelysin, as part of a clinical trial for patients with advanced and inoperable melanoma.

Source: Environmental Protection Authority