On January 15, 2008, the European Commission's Scientific Committee on Health and the Environment (SCHER) (1) issued a comment based on the environmental impact results of the June 2007 risk assessment report for tetrabromobisphenol A (2). SCHER believes that "overall, tetrabromobisphenol A has excellent performance (good quality)." In principle, SCHER agrees with the conclusions made in the Risk Assessment Report (RAR). For example, tetrabromobisphenol A used in reactive form in epoxy resins for printed circuit boards does not pose significant risks to the environment. However, specific plastics (ABS) that use tetrabromobisphenol A in an additive form have been confirmed to cause risks to soil, sediment and water during the production process. Therefore, the European Union adopts the Risk Reduction Strategy (RRS) to reduce the use of tetrabromobisphenol A in the industry to reduce this risk without restricting the trade and use of tetrabromobisphenol A. SCHER suggested the conclusion that (i) tetrabromobisphenol A may decompose into bisphenol A. This also reaffirms RAR's conclusion that "no risks have been identified at this stage." The EU Executive Commission will refer to SCHER's recommendations, together with the completed RAR and RRS, and publish the final recommendations for tetrabromobisphenol A in the official journal.
