Turkey is quickly proceeding with the adoption of new legislation to restrict cyanide for public use under its REACH-like KKDIK Regulation. The measure was prompted by a spate of suicides by cyanide poisoning in recent weeks.
The Ministry has sent the restriction proposal to Turkey’s presidency for final approval. If passed, it will be the first time KKDIK’s Annex 17 has diverged from the EU REACH Annex XVII restricted substances list, which it closely mirrors.
There is no EU-wide restriction for cyanide itself, but three common compounds – hydrogen cyanide, sodium cyanide and potassium cyanide which are classified as very toxic – are restricted under entry 3 of REACH Annex XVII for certain products.
The three cyanide salts are normally used in industrial processes, although there is some use in gold extraction in third countries.
The restriction, which he expects to be approved in the next few days, could also be a temporary emergency action by the ministry before a new control mechanism is put in place outside of KKDIK, to prevent unintentional use of the substance.
The EU’s REACH restricted substances list, which currently contains 70 substances, does not include cyanide itself because no authority has proposed it, ECHA said.
However, as a flammable liquid cyanide does fall within the scope of entry 40 of REACH Annex XVII which restricts certain substances in aerosol dispensers if being supplied to the general public for entertainment and decorative purposes.
KKDIK consultation
In other news, the Turkish ministry plans to open a public consultation on 43 candidate list substances in KKDIK’s Annex 14 – which also mirrors the REACH candidate list – during 2020. It has not confirmed a date for this.
Earlier this month, the MoEU started work on second-stage implementation of KKDIK after securing a €1.6m fund from the EU. The new fund will give a much needed boost to the ministry’s plans to build capacity for the law.
Work will include a software upgrade to match the current version of the IT platform operating in the EU, IUCLID6, and the adaptation into Turkish of quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSAR) modelling, used in chemicals risk assessment.
Source: ChemicalWatch