Confidence in Chemicals was launched by the chemical industry in July 1998, as part of Responsible Care. Among the factors which have led to the initiative is the industry's wish to see the public in general, and stakeholders in particular, better informed about the nature and effects of chemicals and the precautions the industry takes to ensure its products are safe. The industry foresees that without this understanding there will be a growing potential for legislation that could deny consumers access to the many benefits which chemicals currently provide and promise in the future.

In the past the industry has done well at keeping potentially harmfulchemicals in safe hands, but has not been effective at getting this message through to the public whose curiosity is normally subdued but increases mercurially when scare stories are whipped up in the news media. Confidence in Chemicals shows the industry is determined to give the highest priority to the safety of products as well as processes and to take proper account of informed public opinion. Improved communication is therefore an integral component of Confidence in Chemicals.

Under Confidence in Chemicals the chemical industry world-wide will accelerate the process of testing and assessment to today's tough safety and environment standards the most important of the 100,000 "existing" chemicals. In Europe, this means those chemicals which were already on the market when the current system of EU regulation was introduced in 1981.

Priority for testing will be given to chemicals produced in large volume, with particular attention given to those which are widely used in consumer and other products and any chemical which has given rise to concern about its effects on human health or the environment.

The European chemical industry federation, Cefic, is helping to co-ordinate this action as well as a related initiative, a long-range programme of research, sponsored by the chemical industry, into potential generic effects such as endocrine modulation.

An important aspect of Confidence in Chemicals is engagement with "stakeholders". In the UK the Chemical Industries Association has expressed a willingness to join representatives of consumer and environmental organisations as well as government representatives in a stakeholder forum on chemical products. One of its roles would be to try to reach a common view on which chemicals should be assessed first. Testing and assessment facilities are limited, so a system is needed to decide priorities. Informal contacts suggest that the environmental groups would approach the experiment with an open mind. The industry has promised to provide cash and other resources for testing and data collection for an agreed process.

If assessments show any chemical to be an unacceptable source of risk to human health or the environment, the chemical may be withdrawn from sale, or its use restricted, provided that this restriction does not itself result in even greater risks.