A new lab test shows that food packaging made of coloured paper and cardboard - such as coffee cups and straws - may contain and release chemicals originating from the inks used for printing. Paper is the second most used food packaging material after plastic. Unlike plastics, however, there are no EU rules governing paper’s use as a food contact material.

In 2018, more than 2,200 notifications of non-food products were made to the EU’s rapid alert system (Safety Gate, formerly known as RAPEX) as failing safety requirements. Toys, motor vehicles and clothing were the product groups with the most notifications.

Chemicals which change our hormonal system, so-called endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), are linked to severe health problems, including infertility, obesity, cancer and genital malformations. Today, the European Commission published a strategy on how the EU can address EDCs – a long overdue update to an earlier 1999 strategy.