Reforming EU chemical risk assessment: from regulatory bottlenecks to systems solutions

TY - UNPB

T1 - Reforming EU chemical risk assessment

T2 - from regulatory bottlenecks to systems solutions

AU - Topping, Christopher John

AU - Simon-Delso, Noa

AU - Williams, James Henty

AU - Axelman, Johan

PY - 2025/11/27

Y1 - 2025/11/27

N2 - EU chemical regulation remains slow, costly, and prone to “ecological surprises” such as unforeseen negative impacts, delayed neonicotinoid bans and ongoing pollinator decline. Current approaches create silos, overlook cumulative impacts, and trap decisions in binary “safe/unsafe” categories. A systems-first, tools-second approach can deliver faster, cheaper, and more effective decisions by prioritising simulation and systems understanding before developing regulatory tools for Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA). Horizon Europe’s PollinERA project demonstrates how this can work in practice: building a prototype One System workflow with interoperable data and models for pollinator risk assessment; an approach that can be expanded to other environmental domains.

AB - EU chemical regulation remains slow, costly, and prone to “ecological surprises” such as unforeseen negative impacts, delayed neonicotinoid bans and ongoing pollinator decline. Current approaches create silos, overlook cumulative impacts, and trap decisions in binary “safe/unsafe” categories. A systems-first, tools-second approach can deliver faster, cheaper, and more effective decisions by prioritising simulation and systems understanding before developing regulatory tools for Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA). Horizon Europe’s PollinERA project demonstrates how this can work in practice: building a prototype One System workflow with interoperable data and models for pollinator risk assessment; an approach that can be expanded to other environmental domains.

U2 - 10.3897/arphapreprints.e180508

DO - 10.3897/arphapreprints.e180508

M3 - Preprint

BT - Reforming EU chemical risk assessment

PB - Pensoft Publishers

ER -