UN’s non-toxic targets unlikely to be achieved

The Swedish chemicals agency Kemi is warning that the UN’s target of achieving a ‘non-toxic’ environment by 2020 ‘will not be reached’. Set in 2002, these UN sustainable development goals specify that member states will produce and use chemicals in ways that minimise significant adverse effects on human health and the environment by 2020.

‘We clearly see that preventive chemical control is a prerequisite for sustainable development,’ said Nina Cromnier, Kemi’s director general. ‘Work for a poison-free environment needs to continue even after 2020, both in Sweden, within the EU and at international level.’