Andrea Hartwig appointed to join EU High Level Roundtable on the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability

Professor Dr. Andrea Hartwig, the Chair of the Permanent Senate Commission for the Investigation of Health Hazards of Chemical Compounds in the Work Area (MAK Commission) was appointed to join the Expert Group High Level Roundtable on the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability of the European Union to represent the KIT as a scientific member. Hartwig is a Professor for Food Chemistry and Toxicology at the KIT in Karlsruhe. Together with seven other scientific representatives, she is going to act as a consultant for the EU’s chemicals policy strategy over the next few years. The Roundtable was established by the EU to promote the production and use of safe and sustainable chemicals, and to attach greater priority to the issue of protecting humans, animals and the environment against harmful chemicals.

Alongside top-ranking representatives of the member states, the industrial sector and international NGOs, the scientific members of the High Level Roundtable take on a key role, by emphasising the great relevance of independently obtained research data and findings as a basis for assessing the risks associated with chemicals. As part of her new honorary role, Hartwig is going to contribute the occupational safety perspective and her expertise in research-based determination of threshold values to the roundtable discussions. In her role as the Chair of the MAK Commission, she has been committed to the issue of occupational safety for many years, and is now able to lend greater weight to the topic on EU level. Hartwig points out that another positive aspect of her involvement in the committee is the increased visibility of toxicological research topics, and the highlighting of their growing importance in political and socially relevant challenges.

The High Level Roundtable on the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability is part of the European Green Deal whose objective is to implement a comprehensive sustainability concept for making Europe a climate-neutral continent by 2050.

Further information:

MAK Commission homepage

Prof. Dr. Andrea Hartwig

High Level Round Table on the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability