In particular, the European Food Safety Authority should be consulted on the efficacy and the safety of such feed when, on the basis of available scientific and technological information, there are reasons to believe that the use of the feed in question may not meet the particular intended nutritional purpose or may have adverse effects on animal health, human health, the environment or animal welfare.

4. If, on the basis of available scientific and technological information, the Commission, has reason to believe that the use of the specific feed may not fulfil the particular intended nutritional purpose or may have adverse effects on animal health, human health, the environment or animal welfare, the Commission shall, within three months of receipt of a valid application, seek an opinion from the European Food Safety Authority (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Authority’).

In short, the health and environment objective of REACH is expected to be achieved through (1) better knowledge on the properties and uses of substances resulting in better safety and control measures, reducing exposure and hence, the negative impacts on human health and the environment; and (2) the use of less dangerous alternative substances or technologies to SVHC.

improving the information chain by developing integrated environment and health information to understand the links between sources of pollutants and health effects:Action 1: Develop environmental health indicators; Action 2: Develop integrated monitoring of the environment, including food, to allow the determination of relevant human exposure; Action 3: Develop a coherent approach to biomonitoring in Europe; Action 4: Enhance coordination and joint activities on environment and health.

Policies on the work environment also have an impact on health, both in and beyond the workplace and synergies should be developed with the Community Strategy on Health and Safety at Work [5]. For these reasons the Commission launched an Environment and Health Strategy in June 2003 (referred to as the SCALE initiative [6]) proposing an integrated approach involving closer co-operation between the health, environment and research areas. Its added value is the development of a Community System integrating information on the state of the environment, the ecosystem and human health.

In the occupational field, the evaluation of the EU Health and Safety Strategy 2007-2012[18] showed that it achieved relevant goals and identified the need to continue to focus in prevention of occupational diseases, cancer being of major importance, in the framework of coordinated actions with other EU Health and Environment Strategies.