The European Parliament has backed a landmark new law that will make companies prove that substances in everyday products such as cars, computers or paint are safe.
Lawmakers voted in favour of an amended bill on Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH) under which the properties of roughly 30,000 chemicals produced or imported in the European Union would have to be registered with a central agency.
Those of highest concern, such as carcinogens, would require authorisation to be used.
But the bill approved today included a compromise that largely reduced the number of chemicals requiring testing.
Legislators also supported a measure that would force firms to substitute safe chemicals for hazardous ones when alternatives are available.
The regulation must still be agreed by EU member states and may come back to the legislature again before it can become a law.