PMT and vPvM substances under REACH | Umweltbundesamt

<– go back: The final PMT/vPvM criteria | –> go forward: Emergence (2009 – 2015) of the PMT/vPvM criteria

What kind of chemicals have the highest likelihood of polluting and contaminating the sources of our drinking water? The answer is: substances that are mobile enough to travel in the water cycle through natural and artificial barriers and persistent enough to survive such a long journey. It is the combination of the two intrinsic substance properties “Persistency” and “Mobility” that cause very high concern. Once emitted into the environment, persistent and mobile substances can spread over long distances, enter drinking water sources, and even re-circulate within anthropogenic water cycles. It is impossible to predict the long-term effects of an emission into the environment, because their entry into the environment and their possible effects on ecosystems and human health are decoupled in time or space; meaning that impacts can be observed long after and far away from the point of release.

Under the EU´s chemical legislation ⁠REACH⁠, registrants are required to define or maintain a safe use of chemicals throughout their entire life cycle. Currently, REACH lacks proper mechanisms to protect the sources of our drinking water as registrants are not required to identify intrinsic substance properties that indicate a potential drinking water contaminant.

In order to address this, the UBA has funded several research projects that have scientifically developed criteria to identify persistent and mobile substances under REACH. These criteria have been discussed with a diverse group of stakeholders. The work has resulted in PMT and vPvM criteria to identify persistent, mobile and toxic and very persistent and very mobile substances.

<– go back: The final PMT/vPvM criteria | –> go forward: Emergence (2009 – 2015) of the PMT/vPvM criteria

Read the full story related to the development of the PMT/vPvM criteria under the EU´s chemical legislation REACH to identify PMT/vPvM substances: (01) –> Introduction to PMT/vPvM substances, (02) –> Emergence (2009 – 2015) of the PMT/vPvM criteria, (03) –> First PMT Workshop 2011 (04) –> Public Consultation (2016 – 2019) on the PMT/vPvM criteria, (05) –> Second PMT Workshop 2018, (06) –> Utilization (2019 – ongoing) of the PMT/vPvM criteria, (07) –> Third PMT Workshop 2021, (08) –> Media coverage and dissemination, (09) –> Frequently Asked Question (FAQ), (10) –> The final PMT/vPvM criteria

Bibliography

Publications and presentations related to the PMT/vPvM criteria and the identification of PMT/vPvM substances registered under the EU´s Chemical Regulation ⁠REACH⁠.

Sarah E. Hale, Hans Peter H. Arp, Ivo Schliebner and Michael Neumann. (2020) "What’s in a Name: Persistent, Mobile, and Toxic (PMT) and Very Persistent and Very Mobile (vPvM) Substances." Environmental Science & Technology. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c05257

Sarah E Hale, Hans Peter H. Arp, Ivo Schliebner and Michael Neumann (2020). Persistent, mobile and toxic (PMT) and very persistent and very mobile (vPvM) substances pose an equivalent level of concern to persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) and very persistent and very bioaccumulative (vPvB) substances under REACH. Environmental Sciences Europe, 32(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-020-00440-4

Hans Peter H. Arp, Sarah E. Hale, Ivo Schliebner and Michael Neumann. The identification and assessment of PMT substances under REACH. (2020). Oral presentation at the annual meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC Europe), May 2020

Hans Peter H. Arp, Sarah E. Hale, Ivo Schliebner and Michael Neumann Establishing criteria for Persistence and Mobility: State-of-the-art and research needs (2020). Oral presentation at the workshop on Persistent, Mobile and Toxic Substances: A challenge for Analytical Chemistry and Water Quality Control.

Rüdel, H., Körner, W., Letzel, T., Neumann, M., Nödler, K., & Reemtsma, T. (2020). Persistent, mobile and toxic substances in the environment: a spotlight on current research and regulatory activities. Environmental Sciences Europe, 32(1), 1-11.

ECETOC scoping meeting (2020) The environmental risk and remediation of persistent, mobile, toxic (PMT) and very persistent and very mobile (vPvM) substances in the aquatic environment, Sarah Hale

Hans Peter H. Arp and Sarah E Hale (2019). REACH: Improvement of guidance and methods for the identification and assessment of PMT/vPvM substances, Texte | 126/2019, German Environment Agency (UBA), Dessau-Roßlau, Germany. ISBN: 131 pages

Michael Neumann and Ivo Schliebner (2019). Protecting the sources of our drinking water: The criteria for identifying persistent, mobile and toxic (PMT) substances and very persistent and very mobile (vPvM) substances under EU Regulation REACH (EC) No 1907/2006, Texte | 127/2019, German Environment Agency (UBA), Dessau-Roßlau, Germany. ISBN: 87 pages

The identification of persistent, mobile, toxic (PMT) chemicals as SVHC based on their equivalent level of concern to persistent, bioaccumulative, toxic chemicals defined in Article 57(f) of REACH. (2018). Sarah E. Hale, Lena Vierke, Hans Peter H. Arp and Michael Neumann, Poster presentation at the annual meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC Europe), May 2018

Identifying PMT substances amongst REACH registered substances. (2018). Hans Peter H. Arp Sarah E. Hale, Albrecht Striffler, Daniel Sättler, Ivo Schliebner and Michael Neumann, Poster presentation at the annual meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC Europe), May 2018

REACH registered substances that are emerging hazardous drinking water contaminants. (2018). Sarah E. Hale, Michael Neumann, Ivo Schliebner, Daniel Sätler, Hans Peter H. Arp, Oral presentation at the International Conference of Emerging Contaminants (Emcom), June 2018

Protecting the sources of our drinking water: A revised proposal for implementing criteria and an assessment procedure to identify Persistent, Mobile and Toxic (PMT) and very Persistent, very Mobile (vPvM) substances registered under REACH. (2018). Ivo Schliebner, Hans Peter H. Arp, Hans Peter H. Arp, Daniel Sattler, Lena Vierke, Michael Neumann, Oral presentation at the International Conference of Emerging Contaminants (Emcom), June 2018

German Environment Agency (UBA) (ongoing research) REACH: Further development of a guide for the identification and assessment of substances relevant to raw water. Research project (UFOPLAN) FKZ 3716 67 416 0 funded by the Environmental Research of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety of Germany, Berlin, Germany

Berger U., Ost N., Sättler D., Schliebner I., Kühne R., Schüürmann G., Neumann M., and Reemtsma T. (2018) UBA Texte 09/2018: Assessment of persistence, mobility and toxicity (PMT) of 167 REACH registered substances. Neumann M. and Schliebner I., eds. German Environment Agency (UBA), Dessau-Roßlau, Germany. ISBN: 1862-4804. 61 pages

Schulze S., Sättler D., Neumann M., Arp H.P.H., Reemtsma T., and Berger U. (2018) Using REACH registration data to rank the environmental emission potential of persistent and mobile organic chemicals. Science of The Total Environment 625, 1122-1128. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.12.305

Arp H.P.H., Brown T.N., Berger U., and Hale S.E. (2017) Ranking REACH registered neutral, ionizable and ionic organic chemicals based on their aquatic persistency and mobility. Environ Sci Process Impacts. DOI: 10.1039/c7em00158d

Berger U., Arp H.P.H., de Voogt P., Gallard H., Knepper T., Neumann M., J.B. Q., and Reemtsma T. (2017) PROMOTE: PROtecting water resources from MObile TracE chemicals. Oral presentation at the European stakeholder workshop “Persistent and mobile organic chemicals in the water cycle: Linking science, technology and regulation to protect drinking water quality”, 23-24 November 2017, Leipzig, Germany

Berger U., Ost N., Kühne R., Schüürmann G., and Reemtsma T. (2017) Assessment of persistence, mobility, toxicity and environmental emissions of 167 REACH-registered chemicals. Research project funded by the German Environment Agency (UBA), Project number: 74925, Report by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Leipzig, Germany. 54 pages

Berger U., Ost N., Sättler D., Kühne R., Schulze S., Schüürmann G., Hale S.E., Arp H.P.H., Vierke L., Schliebner I., Neumann M., and Reemtsma T. (2017) Assessment of persistency and mobility of REACH-registered chemicals - The influence of input parameters, evaluation criteria and concepts. Oral presentation at the annual meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC Europe), 7-11 May 2017, Brussels, Belgium

Neumann M. (2017) A proposal for criteria and an evaluation approach to identify persistent, mobile and toxic (PMT) substances. Oral presentation at the „REACH in der Praxis Fachworkshop: REACH und Rohwasserschutz - PMT-Stoffe erkennen und ihre Emissionen vermeiden.” Workshop of the German Environment Agency, 04 May 2017, Berlin, Germany

Neumann M. (2017) Protection of raw water under the EU regulation REACH - An assessment concept for persistent, mobile and toxic (PMT) substances [in German]. Oral presentation at the Conference "Niedersächsisches Grundwasserkolloquium 2017 - Grundwasserschutz im Spannungsfeld zwischen Nachhaltigkeit und Ökonomie", 15-16 February 2017, Braunschweig, Germany

Neumann M. (2017) Voluntary measures and regulatory options for PMT substances under REACH. Oral presentation at the European stakeholder workshop “Persistent and mobile organic chemicals in the water cycle: Linking science, technology and regulation to protect drinking water quality”, 23-24 November 2017, Leipzig, Germany

Neumann M. (2017) Proposal for criteria and an assessment concept for the identification of Persistent, Mobile and Toxic (PMT) substances to protect raw water for the production of drinking water under the EU regulation REACH [in German]. Zbl. Geol. Paläont. Teil I, Jg. 2017, Heft 1, 91-101

Neumann M., Sättler D., Vierke L., and Schliebner I. (2017) A proposal for criteria and an assessment procedure to identify Persistent, Mobile and Toxic (PM or PMT) substances registered under REACH. Oral presentation at the 16th EuCheMS International Conference on Chemistry and the Environment (ICCE), Oslo, Norway

Neumann M. and Schliebner I. (2017) Protecting the sources of our drinking water - A revised proposal for implementing criteria and an assessment procedure to identify Persistent, Mobile and Toxic (PMT) and very Persistent, very Mobile (vPvM) substances registered under REACH. German Environmental Agency (UBA), Dessau, Germany. ISBN: 2363-8273. 20 pages

Neumann M. and Schliebner I. (2017) Protecting the sources of our drinking water from mobile chemicals - A proposal for implementing criteria and an assessment procedure to identify Persistent, Mobile and Toxic (PM or PMT) substances registered under REACH. German Environmental Agency, Dessau-Roßlau, Germany. ISBN: 2363-8273. 12 pages

„REACH in der Praxis Fachworkshop: REACH und Rohwasserschutz - PMT-Stoffe erkennen und ihre Emissionen vermeiden.” (2017) Workshop of the German Environment Agency, 04 May 2017, Berlin, Germany

Reemtsma T., Schulze S., Berger U., Arp H.P.H., Gallard H., Knepper T., Neumann M., J.B. Q., and de Voogt P. (2017) Identification of PM(T) substances in the water cycle - Challenges in analytics and monitoring [in German]. Oral presentation at the „REACH in der Praxis Fachworkshop: REACH und Rohwasserschutz - PMT-Stoffe erkennen und ihre Emissionen vermeiden.” Workshop of the German Environment Agency, 04 May 2017, Berlin, Germany

Sättler D. (2017) A proposal for an assessment procedure for the protection of the raw water under REACH [in German]. Oral presentation at the Symposium "Bauchemie und Wasserqualität" of the Wasserchemische Gesellschaft, 16-17 March 2017, Berlin, Germany

Schliebner I. (2017) Protection of raw water under the EU regulation REACH - An assessment concept for persistent, mobile and toxic (PMT) substances [in German]. Oral presentation at the Wassertagung of the Verband für Energie- und Wasserwirtschaft (VfEW), 19 October 2017, Stuttgart, Germany

Schliebner I., Sättler D., Berger U., Ost N., Kühne R., Schüürmann G., Reemtsma T., and Neumann M. (2017) Using REACH registration data for the identification of persistent, mobile and toxic (PMT) substances. Poster at the 16th EuCheMS International Conference on Chemistry and the Environment (ICCE), Oslo, Norway

Schulze S., Sättler D., Neumann M., Arp H.P.H., Reemtsma T., and Berger U. (2017) Using REACH registration data to rank the environmental emission potential of persistent and mobile organic chemicals. Oral presentation at the European stakeholder workshop “Persistent and mobile organic chemicals in the water cycle: Linking science, technology and regulation to protect drinking water quality", 23-24 November 2017, Leipzig, Germany

Berger U., Arp H.P.H., de Voogt P., Gallard H., Knepper T., Neumann M., J.B. Q., and Reemtsma T. (2016) PROMOTE: PROtecting water resources from MObile TracE chemicals. Oral presentation at the 1st workshop on the alignment of ongoing RDI projects on the topic of “Emerging pollutants, including pathogens” organized by Water JPI, 30 November 2016, Vienna, Austria

Berger U., Arp H.P.H., de Voogt P., Gallard H., Knepper T., Neumann M., Quintana J.B., and Reemtsma T. (2016) Identification, analysis, removal and regulation of persistent and mobile organic chemicals in the drinking water cycle - The approach of the EU project PROMOTE. Oral presentation at the 26th annual meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC Europe), 22-26 May 2016, Nantes, France

Lavison G., Reemtsma T., Berger U., Knepper T.P., Arp H.P.H., Quintana J.B., Gallard H., de Voogt P., and Neumann M. (2016) PROMOTE Project: Strategies for identification, quantification and process removal efficiency of Persistent Mobile Organic Contaminants in raw and treated waters. Platform presentation at the Meeting of the French Society of Hydrology, 19-20 May 2016, Orleans, France

Neumann M., Sättler D., and Vierke L. (2016) Using REACH registration data for the identification of persistent, mobile and toxic (PMT) substances to protect raw water resources. Poster at the 26th annual meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC Europe), 22-26 May 2016, Nantes, France

Quintana J.B., Arp H.P., Berger U., de Voogt P., Gallard H., Knepper T., Neumann M., and Reemtsma T. (2016) Persistent mobile organic chemicals in the water cycle investigated by the Water JPI Project PROMOTE. Poster at the International Conference on Environmental and Food Monitoring (ISEAC39), 18-22 July 2016, Hamburg, Germany

Reemtsma T., Berger U., Arp H.P.H., Gallard H., Knepper T.P., Neumann M., Quintana J.B., and de Voogt P. (2016) Mind the Gap: Persistent and Mobile Organic Compounds - Water Contaminants That Slip Through. Environmental Science & Technology 50 (19), 10308–10315. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.6b03338

Schulze S., Sättler D., Neumann M., Berger U., Arp H.P.H., and Reemtsma T. (2016) Prioritization of REACH-registered, persistent and mobile organic chemicals with regard to their expected emissions into the environment [in German]. Poster at the Conference "Wasser 2016" of the German Chemical Society (GDCh), 2-4 May 2016, Bamberg, Germany

Vierke L., Sättler D., and Neumann M. (2016) Protection of raw water under the EU regulation REACH - An assessment concept for persistent, mobile and toxic (PMT) substances [in German]. Oral presentation at the Conference "Wasser 2016" of the German Chemical Society (GDCh), 2-4 May 2016, Bamberg, Germany

Berger U., Arp H.P.H., de Voogt P., Gallard H., Knepper T., Neumann M., Quintana J.B., and Reemtsma T. (2015) PROMOTE: PROtecting water resources from MObile TracE chemicals. Poster at the 15th EuCheMS International Conference on Chemistry and the Environment (ICCE), 20-24 September 2015, Leipzig, Germany

Neumann M., Schwarz M.A., Sättler D., Oltmanns J., Vierke L., and Kalberlah F. (2015) A proposal for a chemical assessment concept for the protection of raw water resources under REACH. Oral presentation at the 25th annual meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC Europe), 3-7 May 2015, Barcelona, Spain

Neumann M., Schwarz M.A., Sättler D., Oltmanns J., Vierke L., and Kalberlah F. (2015) A proposal for a chemical assessment concept for the protection of raw water resources under REACH. Extended Abstract for the Oral presentation at the 25th annual meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC Europe), 3-7 May 2015, Barcelona, Spain

Vierke L., Sättler D., and Neumann M. (2015) Using REACH registration data for the identification of persistent, mobile ant toxic substances to protect raw water resources. Oral presentation at the 15th EuCheMS International Conference on Chemistry and the Environment (ICCE), 20-24 September 2015, Leipzig, Germany

Kalberlah F., Oltmanns J., Schwartz M.A., Baumeister J., and Striffler A. (2014) Guidance for the Precautionary Protection of Raw Water Destined for Drinking Water Extraction from Contaminants Regulated Under REACH. Project Report (UFOPLAN) FKZ 371265416, funded by the Environmental Research of the Federal Ministry for the Environment Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety of Germany, Berlin, Germany

Neumann M. and Dieter H.H. (2014) Contaminants relevant to raw water: Definition and regulation within the scope of the EU regulation REACH [in German]. In: Trinkwasser aktuell, Handbuch (Dieter H.H., Chorus, I., Krüger, W., Mendel, B., ed.). Erich Schmidt Verlag, Berlin, Germany. ISBN: 978 3 503 14103 6

Neumann M. and Kalberlah F. (2013) Protection of raw water for the production of drinking water from a contamination with chemicals with uses within the framework of the EU regulation REACH [in German]. Oral presentation at the Annual meeting of the expert group environmental chemistry and eco-toxicology, 30 September - 02 October 2013, Wuppertal, Germany

German Environment Agency (UBA) (2012) First UBA Workshop "REACH Chemical Assessment meets Environmental Monitoring: Opportunities and Challenges", 18-19 April 2012, Dessau-Roßlau, Germany

Neumann M. (2012) REACH is different or The identification of substances that need to be regulated to protect the environment [in German]. Oral presentation at the Meeting of the German Working Group on water issues of the Federal States and the Federal Government (LAWA-AG), 18-19 June 2012, Lübeck, Germany

Neumann M. (2012) Chemicals relevant to raw water with uses within the frame-work of the EU regulation REACH [in German]. Oral presentation at the 5th annual meeting of the German Chemical Society (GDCh) with scientific support of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC GLB), 10-13 September 2012, Leipzig, Germany

Kuhlmann B., Skark C., Zullei-Seibert N., Klein A., Fritzsche E., and Neumann M. (2011) Assessment of the relevance to drinking water of chemicals within the framework of the EU regulation REACH [in German]. Vom Wasser - Das Journal 109 (2), 39 - 41

Neumann M. and Klein A. (2011) The protection of groundwater and drinking water within the REACH-system. Poster at the 21th annual meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC Europe), 15-19 May 2011, Milan, Italy

Skark C., Kuhlmann B., and Zullei-Seibert N. (2011) Refinement and validation of an screening for chemicals relevant to drinking water within the framework of the EU regulation REACH [in German]. Research project FKZ No 360 010 59 funded by the German Environment Agency (UBA), Report by Institut für Wasserforschung (IfW), Schwerte, Germany. 75 pages

Kuhlmann B., Skark C., and Zullei-Seibert N. (2010) Definition and assessment of chemicals relevant to drinking water within the framework of the EU regulation REACH and recommendations for screening for potentially critical substances [in German]. Research project FKZ No 363 01 241 funded by the German Environment Agency (UBA), Report by Institut für Wasserforschung (IfW) GmbH, Schwerte, Germany. 97 pages

Klein A. and Neumann M. (2009) Assessment of chemicals relevant to drinking water within the framework of the EU regulation REACH [in German]. Poster at the Annual meeting of the expert group environmental chemistry and ecotoxicology at the University of Trier, 23-25 September 2009, Trier, Germany

Klein A. and Neumann M. (2009) Assessment of chemicals relevant to drinking water within the framework of the EU regulation REACH [in German]. Mitteilungen der Fachgruppe Umweltchemie und Ökotoxikologie 15/2009 (2), 82-84