Environmental pressure in the Netherlands, Toxic and hazardous substances theme: introduction and policy
'Toxic and hazardous substances' is an umbrella term for the contamination of soil, water, and air with toxic substances that are not included in the other themes. The Toxic and hazardous substances theme includes:
- toxic chemical substances, including the priority substances such as heavy metals, PAHs, PCBs, dioxins and volatile organic compounds;
- pesticides;
- radioactive substances;
- radiation;
- micro-organisms.
The burden on the environment generated by these substances can harm nature and public health.
Origin of toxic substances
Toxic substances spread to water, soil and air as a result of the use of chemicals and products by, for example, industry, agriculture and consumers. They spread through point sources and diffuse sources. Point sources include, for example, industrial discharges. Diffuse sources consist of, for instance, the use of pesticides or the emissions of chemicals generated by the use of consumer products. There is also the transboundary import of substances via sludge and water in the large rivers and via the air.
Impact of toxic substances
Toxic substances in the water and soil can have an undesirable impact on ecosystem functioning and on human health. Impaired function, in the form of impaired breeding success, impaired resistance and so on, often emerges at the top of food chains as a result of the accumulation of substances in the food chain. Undesirable effects have been observed in, for example, common terns, owls and mice and in micro-organisms at polluted soil sites.
Policy objectives and strategy
The government wishes to achieve a sustainable situation in 2010 in which the target value for the quality of soil, water, air and urban environment will be reached and can be maintained. An interim objective set for 2000 was conformity with the maximum allowable concentration.
To bring the target value for the quality of the environment within reach, the government has adopted a two-prong approach to policy for toxic and hazardous substances: source reduction and effect reduction.
- Source-reduction policy
The source-reduction policy focuses on preventing the spread of toxic substances. The strategies adopted consist of the reduction of the emissions of these substances or the treatment of wastewater before it is discharged into surface water. - Effect-reduction policy
Where pollution has already occurred, effect-reduction measures can reduce the risks for people and nature. Examples of effect-reduction measures are the clean-up of polluted soils and dredging sludge. These measures have a direct effect on the quality of water, soil and air.
The new substances policy
As a supplement to the two-pronged approach already in place, the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment has formulated the new substances policy in the Strategy on Management of Substances policy memorandum (VROM, 2001). In doing so, the government hopes to achieve the following:
- implementation of the precautionary principle;
- to make information public;
- the collection of data in the very short term about hazardous properties of substances and products;
- improvement in the quality of substances policy on the enterprise level;
- elaboration of life-cycle responsibility (primarily in the area of communications about dangers, risks and control measures);
- cessation of the use of substances or products that involve an unacceptable danger or risk;
- no carcinogenic, mutagenic, reproduction toxic (CMR) substances or highly persistent, bioaccumulative, toxic (PBT) substances in consumer products and open applications and the avoidance as much as possible of substances of this kind in industrial applications;
- efforts to terminate emissions of persistent, bioaccumulative, toxic (PBT) substances within a single generation, and no later than 2020.
