On 20 September 2007, the PVC Information Council DK will be holding a conference at the Ingeniørforeningen in Copenhagen, where you will get the opportunity to hear all about, what is worth knowing about the present phthalate situation. The attendants will get the answers to all current questions, being either a manufacturer, distributor or in other ways interested in soft PVC products. There will be presentations by both authorities, Danish and European industrial organisations and by representatives of big companies, that are marketing alternative plasticisers for PVC.
 
A crucial topic, that the conference will be dealing with, is the expected faith of the phthalate plasticiser, DEHP. Among other things we will hear about the development of the DEHP comsumption and about what the new EU chemical regulation, REACH, will mean for the DEHP consumption. Since DEHP is a socalled CMR substance, it means that the companies will be needing an authorisation in the future, if they still want to market DEHP containing products. Does this mean that DEHP will be out of the market in some years? And what do EU’s own risk assessements say about the phthalates? Will the conclusions of the risk assessments of e.g. DEHP have any influence on the authorisations given by the Chemical Agency in Helsinki? These and many other questions will be dealt with by Director, Dr. David Cadogan and Vice Director Tim Edgar of the European Council for Plasticisers and Intermediates, ECPI, at the Ingeniørforeningen on 20 September.
 
From authority side, the PVC Information Council has asked MSc. Shima Dobel of the Danish Environmental Protection Agency, chemical department, to give an update on the view of the Danish EPA on the current situation. What recommendations do the Danish EPA in fact give in the phthalate field today, and in which direction do the Danish EPA try to influence the rest of Europe in this specific field? What is the situation about the announced amendment of the phthalate taxes? And which role do the phthalates play in the discussion about the hormone disrupting substances. This, among other things, will be dealt with by Shima Dobel during her presentation.
 
One of the uses of phthalates, that has been most focused on, is the use of DEHP as plasticiser in medical devices. Senior scientist, toxicologist Ole Ladefoged of the Danish Vetenary and Food Administration is the representative of the Danish authority with the most knowledge of this issue. Ole Ladefoged is rapporteur of the scientifical committee in EU that is evaluating, whether it is reasonable or not to still use DEHP in medical devices. At the conference Ole Ladefoged will tell about the work in the committee and about the conclusions that have been reached. Ole Ladefoged will also tell more generally about the toxicological effects of the phthalates. He will also inform about the assessments as regards the exposure of phthalates, that we all are exposed to daily through food stuffs and other sources.

From the political world the Danish member of the European Parliament, the socialdemocrat Dan Jørgensen, will make a presentation. Dan Jørgensen is vice chairman of the Environmental Committee of the Parliament and he will talk about his work in the committee and in general about his wiew on chemicals.
 
If the market over the coming years will move partially away from phthalates, it does not mean that there are no other plasticisers for PVC available. Several alternatives to the phthalates are available in the market. At the PVC Information Council’s conference two of the newest plasticisers will be presented, namely BASF’s Hexamol DINCH and Danisco’s Soft ’n Safe. It will be Heidrun Goth of BASF, who will be telling about DINCH. She is the manager of the department at BASF that is solely managing the marketing of the new plasticiser. From Danisco it will be Product Manager Bjarne Nielsen, who will be telling about Soft ’n Safe. In addition to Danisco and BASF two more presentations on alternatives will be held at the conference. Dr. Mark Holt from Eastman and Hans-Peter Froschaur will talk about alternative plasticisers available on the market.
 
See the programme for the conference. All presentations will be held in English.
 
The conference will be open to all. Conference fee is 900,00 DKK (€ 120) for members of the PVC Information Council DK and 1400,00 DKK (€ 190) for non-members. Lunch included.
 
The Conference will be held at the Ingeniørforeningen in Danmark, Kalvebod Brygge 31-33 in Copenhagen. Enrollment with: PVC Information Council DK on pvc@pvc.dk. Please inform us of your name, title, company and address and you will receive an e-mail as confirmation. Invoice will follow later.