New endocrine disruptor rules address your trade concerns, E

New endocrine disruptor rules address your trade concerns, E

Postby Oscar » Tue Dec 13, 2016 9:06 am

New endocrine disruptor rules address your trade concerns, EU tells US, Canada

[ http://www.euractiv.com/section/health- ... us-canada/ ]

By James Crisp | EurActiv.com  ‎12‎-‎Dec‎-‎2016 (updated: 8:43)

EXCLUSIVE/ The European Commission told the US and Canada that draft EU pesticides laws would “address the concerns” they had over possible trade restrictions on goods exposed to endocrine disruptors.

Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis met with ambassadors from the US, Canada, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay on 13 July this year, a month after the executive published new criteria for the potentially harmful disruptors.

The EU has recently finalised CETA, its free trade agreement with Canada. It is negotiating a similar deal with the US, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The EU is trying to secure another deal with the Mercosur trading bloc, which includes Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.

EurActiv.com has obtained Commission minutes of the meeting, which would have remained secret had it not been for a freedom of information application.

They revealed that the US and Canada heaped pressure on the EU over its risk-evaluation method for endocrine disruptors, chemicals used in some pesticides that can be dangerous to human health.

The Commission said new exceptions, if backed by the EU’s Parliament and Council, would use a different risk-evaluation method.

Vito Buonsante, a lawyer with environmental NGO ClientEarth, said, “The Commission claims that the change in how to manage endocrine disruptors was aimed to increase protection for EU citizens. But it turns out they were increasing satisfaction for trade partners instead.

“This will make it easier for countries with weaker pesticides protection – like Canada and the United States – to import food into the EU.”

There is fierce debate about how best to evaluate the risk endocrine disruptors pose. In general, the EU prefers the precautionary principle approach to the risk-based method used in the other countries.

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[ http://www.euractiv.com/section/health- ... us-canada/ ]
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