Last year, poison centers across Europe handled around 600,000 calls about accidental poisoning, and almost half of them reported incidents involving young children.

And is that, not being really aware of it, our homes are full of products that contain potential harmful chemicals: materials for crafts, cleaning products of common use, gardening supplies, etc.

As part of SIAM's strategic growth and diversification plan, we have acquired the ownership of "Laboratorios Almabe IDUQC", an independent laboratory founded in 2012 and located in the Murcia Science and Technology Park.

The European Chemicals Agency has been working in collaboration with de OECD, the European Commission's Joint Research Centre and other organisations from the United States and Canada to develop alternative methods to assess chemical hazards and to protect people from skin sensitisation while prompting non animal test methods.

The result of this collaboration is the Guideline on Defined Approaches for Skin Sensinitation, adopted on June 14, 2021.

The European Commission has published REGULATION (EU) 2021/1297 of 4 August 2021 amending Annex XVII to REACH restricting perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCAs) containing 9 to 14 carbon atoms in the chain (C9-C14 PFCAs), their salts and substances from 23 February 2023 onwards, although some uses have been granted longer transition periods.

The decision responds to a restriction proposal submitted by German and Swedish authorities in 2017.

The classification and labelling requirements for titanium dioxide (TiO2) changed in February 2020 following Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/2017, effective October 1, 2021. To help companies comply with the new regulations, the European Chemicals Agency has published a new guide about the classification, labelling and packaging of TiO2.

Since 1969, the Vicente Ferrer Foundation has been committed to the fight against poverty and the development of one of the most impoverished areas of India, the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. They have developed actions to raise awareness of hygiene habits, to combat discrimination against women, to help migrants, to promote inclusive education, etc.

However, as it happened in the rest of the world, the public health emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic has been a great challenge for all its material and human resources, which have worked tirelessly to alleviate its consequences.