REACH - The New Black Death or terminator 4?

In the 14th century the Bubonic plague spread through Europe killing up to 60 % of the population. It was spread by the fleas that infested rats.

In 1984 we had Terminator. If you remember the story, - the machines were taking over the earth and they sent Terminator back in time to ensure their takeover was successful.

Today we have REACH!

REACH stands for Regulation, Evaluation, Authorisation & restriction of CHemicals.

It is a new set of rules dreampt up by the European Union Bureaucrat late one morning after he unexpectedly finished his crossword early. It has now been taken up by the great European  Bureaucratic Machine and is set to destroy life as we know it here in Europe.

The regulations apply to anything made in Europe or imported into Europe. So don't worry rest of the world, you are safe.

It started as a simple idea. Anything that is sold because of its shape is outside of the regulations but anything that is sold because of its chemical composition must be regulated.

So, for example. If I import a pair of scissors, or a knife, into Europe, I have no problem. But if I import an ingot of steel to make a knife or a pair of scissors, I have to pay tens of thousands of Euros as a contribution to the costs of testing the steel to ensure it is not harmful to humans.

If I want to make a piece of paper in Europe, that no problem either. BUT all the suppliers of all the chemicals that go into the paper have to pay tens of thousands of Euros to get each of their products approved, even those that have been used for 100 years or more.

These costs cannot be absorbed by the suppliers, so they have to be passed on to their European customers.

However, the rest of the world does not demand such approvals. So anyone outside of Europe can buy these very same chemicals, without the REACH 'levy', and then sell the paper into Europe because they are selling a shape and not a chemical!

Of course I have given paper as an example because it is my specialist subject, but it applies to tens of thousands of products.

It could be toothbrushes, hair brushes or paint brushes. To make a toothbrush in Europe, the manufacturer will have to pay huge amounts of money to to have the polymer for the handle and the polymer for the bristles approved. But outside of Europe, anyone can make the same brush and import it as an 'object', used because of its shape and not its chemical composition.

THIS IS IN EFFECT A TAX ON ANYONE THAT WANTS TO MAKE ANYTHING IN EUROPE.

But it gets worse.

The 'approval' is called a 'Letter of Access'. If you make or import say 100 tonnes of a product that needs a Letter of Access, then you pay the same fee as someone else that makes or imports 100,000 tones. So, imagine a letter of access costs 100,000 Euros. A large manufacturer needs to add 1 Euro to the cost of each ton, to get his money back. A small manufacturer or importer needs to add 1,000 Euros per ton to get his money back.

So for a chemical that normally sells for say, 500 Euros per ton, the big player will have to charge 501 Euros now, and the small player will have to charge 1,500 per ton. Clearly no one will pay this price and so all the small manufacturers and importers will go out of business.

The common sense way was to apply a levy 'per ton' so that no one is disadvantaged. But when was common sense ever a requirement of state bureaucracy ?

SO NOW, ALL THE SMALL COMPANIES THAT DUTIFULLY PAY ALL THEIR LOCAL TAXES WILL BE ELIMINATED, AND ALL THE LARGE CORPORATIONS THAT HAVE THE SKILL AND THE LAWYERS AND THE ACCOUNTANTS TO AVOID PAYING LOCAL TAX, WILL MAKE EVEN MORE PROFITS AND PAY EVEN LESS TAX.

This of course means that the man in the street will have to pay more tax, to make up for the tax that the big companies are avoiding paying.

With all the small companies eliminated, the few remaining big companies will then be free to apply whatever price rises they wish. We will be at their mercy.

AND FINALLY

Think about new developments!
This testing regime is a huge financial barrier, and it only exists in Europe, not the rest of the world. Small inventors will be wiped out because they cannot afford to bring their inventions to market, or they will be at the mercy of those that already have mega millions! If a small inventor approaches a large corporation, what will happen? The large corporation will say - hey, we will give you a pittance for your idea, because we know you can't finance it yourself!

So where will all the new chemistry and inventions be made? - Outside Europe
Who will gain? - Everyone outside Europe

What will happen inside Europe?

All the chemicals we use will have this 'levy' so all our prices will increase
many of the chemicals we use will become financially nonviable so they will be withdrawn and our technology will slide backwards to the point before they were used.

So from May 1, Europe will start to slide backwards while the rest of the world will race ahead

Kyle Reese where are you?

You need to go back in time and stop REACH ever happening

Rest of the world - you are on a winner, just sit back and watch Europe destroy itself, then take over