Discursive Battles over EU Chemical Hazard Assessments: Pollution, Competitiveness, New Approach Methodologies

With chemical pollution intensifying in the European Union (EU) and critiques mounting over the current regulatory paradigm for assessing chemical hazards, it is imperative to understand rising expectations, fears, and controversies. Despite its documented impact on various EU environmental policies, the discourse on EU chemical policies remains starkly unexplored. Responding to calls for more research in EU environmental policy narratives, this paper aims to unveil how EU chemical hazard assessment narratives are shaped, and how these narratives might influence policy directions. To that end, it employs a Discursive Agency Approach and uses MAXQDA software for qualitative text analysis. The empirical core of the interpretive case study is 17 explorative interviews, 4 virtual workshops with 55 German-speaking EU chemical policy stakeholders from four stakeholder groups (NGOs, regulators, industry, research), and 27 chemical (policy) related documents. The study identifies two key discursive demarcation lines. First, stakeholders who emphasise the urgency of addressing chemical pollution are at odds with stakeholders concerned about the EU chemical industry’s standing in global competition. Second, there is a superficial consensus among all stakeholder groups to increase the uptake of new approach methodologies (NAMs) and related regulatory acceptance. However, at second glance, the discursive divides between advocates focusing on chemical pollution and stakeholders prioritising EU competitiveness also undermine this consensus. The contestation involves the degree of the industry’s political influence on new assessment procedures, the extent to which animal tests should be replaced, and how mandatory new methods should be incorporated into regulations. Overall, the study offers not only a rich, nuanced exploration of policy trajectories and stakeholder aspirations but also sheds light on the underbelly of environmental policy and governance, with its entwined relations and conflicting interests.