Today, PAN Europe and the civil society[1] applaud the European Parliament for standing up for the European citizens and adopting a resolution that addresses a long-known concern: daily exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) may cause harm to ourselves, our children, the environment and all its species.
The resolution, which was adopted with a great majority by the European Parliament (447 votes in favour out of a total 502), urges the Commission to take action and set strict targets to phase out and gradually eliminate human, animal and environmental exposure to EDCs.
The Parliament decided to stand firm on the need for a high level of protection from EDCs and calls on the Commission to make legislative proposals no later than June 2020. It also calls for a broader horizontal regulation of EDCs, including known and suspected ones, proper identification of EDCs using adequate testing and latest scientific knowledge, consideration of the effects from chemical mixtures and implementation of human, animal and environmental biomonitoring.
This parliamentary demand for action is a response to Commission’s complete lack of commitment in its communication “Towards a comprehensive European Union framework on endocrine disruptors”. In line with the 7th Environmental Protection Programme European, we were all expecting for an updated Strategy, with specific goals to phase out the use of EDCs and promote non-toxic alternatives. Instead, the Commission launched a plan to do a fitness check on the various ED policies.
PAN Europe highlights that a fitness check at this moment, not only delays further phasing out EDCs from our daily lives, but it also totally premature since the EU policies on EDCs have hardly been implemented.
“We’ve known for decades how dangerous EDCs can be for ourselves, our children, and our ecosystems; and pesticides have been one of the first culprits ” says Angeliki Lysimachou, Science Policy Officer of PAN Europe. “We need urgent policy action to stop using all such chemicals in our daily lives and eliminate exposure. Today, we auplaud the European Parliament that stood up for the Citizens and treated this issue with the gravity it deserves”.
The Parliamentary resolution today is a step forward towards the elimination of EDCs and the development of alternative methods that do not jeopardise human or environmental health. The next step is this resolution to become European law.
Contact: PAN Europe, Angeliki Lysimachou, +32 2318 6255; +32 496 392930 angeliki [at] pan-europe.info
[1] See Press release from European Coalition EDC free
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