Endocrine disruptors: The secret history of a scandal
Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2016 3:41 pmEndocrine disruptors: The secret history of a scandal
[ http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ ... -a-scandal ]
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QUOTE: "Studies peg the health costs of exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals between €157 billion and €288 billion."
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Next week, sources say, the European Commission will take up regulations on endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Too bad the text driving the decision remains cloaked in covertness worthy of the most sensitive state secrets. Part 1 of 3.
June 8, 2016 By Stéphane Horel
Editors Note: This article was originally published by Le Monde on May 20. This version is translated by the Health and Environment Alliance and is republished with permission. We are also republishing other parts of the investigation: Le Monde's interview with French Environment Minister Ségoléne Royal (Part 2) and doubt sown by Brussels' industry-linked scientific community (Part 3).
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This is one of the best kept secrets in Europe. It is locked up in the maze of corridors in the European Commission, in a guarded room that only about 40 accredited officials have the right to enter. And then only with paper and pen. Smartphones are not allowed.
This is a stricter safety protocol than even for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (or TTIP) between the European Union and the United States: If members of the European Parliament want to access TTIP documents they can enter the reading room without anyone checking the contents of their pockets.
The secret is a report of about 250 pages. Its title, in the jargon of the Commission, is "Impact Assessment."
It assesses the "socio-economic" impact of regulations related to a group of chemical pollutants. Known as endocrine disruptors, these chemicals are capable of interfering with the hormones of animal species, including humans, and are believed to be the cause of many serious diseases: hormone-dependent cancers, infertility, obesity, diabetes, neurobehavioral disorders.
They are found in a multitude of consumer items, cosmetics, pesticides and plastics such as bisphenol A (or BPA). Whole sectors of industry will be affected by regulation of these chemicals in the medium term. Billions of euros are at stake.
Twists worthy of a TV series
The prospect of restrictions, perhaps even bans, raises serious worries among manufacturers. The pesticide industry has never hidden its hostility to the European regulation on "plant protection products," from which originates a decision-making process with twists and turns worthy of a TV series.
Adopted by the European Parliament in 2009, the text provided for special treatment of pesticides: those recognized as endocrine disruptors would not be allowed on the market. But they must be able to be recognized.
In concrete terms, the job was to lay down criteria to identify these substances. Without the criteria, the law cannot be implemented.The Commission was therefore obliged to find a way to distinguish endocrine disruptors from other chemicals. In concrete terms, its job was to lay down criteria to identify these substances. Without the criteria, the law cannot be implemented.
National health authorities, industry and NGOs are thus in suspended animation awaiting a decision on these criteria for identification—a regulatory tool that will then enable restrictions or, more radically, prohibitions on the use of certain endocrine disruptors.
Today, seven years later, these criteria still do not exist.
This impact assessment, with its highly confidential conclusions (as secret as the location of the fountain of youth), is largely responsible for this delay. It was not originally part of the plan, but industry called for it as a way to weaken the regulation.
It succeeded in early summer of 2013 after a lobbying blitzkrieg by pesticide and chemical industries working in tandem. Activities were coordinated mainly through their Brussels lobbying organizations: European Crop Protection Association and European Chemical Industry Council.
MORE:
[ http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ ... -a-scandal ]
[ http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ ... -a-scandal ]
- - - -
QUOTE: "Studies peg the health costs of exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals between €157 billion and €288 billion."
- - - -
Next week, sources say, the European Commission will take up regulations on endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Too bad the text driving the decision remains cloaked in covertness worthy of the most sensitive state secrets. Part 1 of 3.
June 8, 2016 By Stéphane Horel
Editors Note: This article was originally published by Le Monde on May 20. This version is translated by the Health and Environment Alliance and is republished with permission. We are also republishing other parts of the investigation: Le Monde's interview with French Environment Minister Ségoléne Royal (Part 2) and doubt sown by Brussels' industry-linked scientific community (Part 3).
- - - -
This is one of the best kept secrets in Europe. It is locked up in the maze of corridors in the European Commission, in a guarded room that only about 40 accredited officials have the right to enter. And then only with paper and pen. Smartphones are not allowed.
This is a stricter safety protocol than even for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (or TTIP) between the European Union and the United States: If members of the European Parliament want to access TTIP documents they can enter the reading room without anyone checking the contents of their pockets.
The secret is a report of about 250 pages. Its title, in the jargon of the Commission, is "Impact Assessment."
It assesses the "socio-economic" impact of regulations related to a group of chemical pollutants. Known as endocrine disruptors, these chemicals are capable of interfering with the hormones of animal species, including humans, and are believed to be the cause of many serious diseases: hormone-dependent cancers, infertility, obesity, diabetes, neurobehavioral disorders.
They are found in a multitude of consumer items, cosmetics, pesticides and plastics such as bisphenol A (or BPA). Whole sectors of industry will be affected by regulation of these chemicals in the medium term. Billions of euros are at stake.
Twists worthy of a TV series
The prospect of restrictions, perhaps even bans, raises serious worries among manufacturers. The pesticide industry has never hidden its hostility to the European regulation on "plant protection products," from which originates a decision-making process with twists and turns worthy of a TV series.
Adopted by the European Parliament in 2009, the text provided for special treatment of pesticides: those recognized as endocrine disruptors would not be allowed on the market. But they must be able to be recognized.
In concrete terms, the job was to lay down criteria to identify these substances. Without the criteria, the law cannot be implemented.The Commission was therefore obliged to find a way to distinguish endocrine disruptors from other chemicals. In concrete terms, its job was to lay down criteria to identify these substances. Without the criteria, the law cannot be implemented.
National health authorities, industry and NGOs are thus in suspended animation awaiting a decision on these criteria for identification—a regulatory tool that will then enable restrictions or, more radically, prohibitions on the use of certain endocrine disruptors.
Today, seven years later, these criteria still do not exist.
This impact assessment, with its highly confidential conclusions (as secret as the location of the fountain of youth), is largely responsible for this delay. It was not originally part of the plan, but industry called for it as a way to weaken the regulation.
It succeeded in early summer of 2013 after a lobbying blitzkrieg by pesticide and chemical industries working in tandem. Activities were coordinated mainly through their Brussels lobbying organizations: European Crop Protection Association and European Chemical Industry Council.
MORE:
[ http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ ... -a-scandal ]