PR 03/16
Endocrine disruptor criteria toothless?
The criteria to identify endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) recently proposed by EU Health Commissioner Andriukaitis will fail to protect our health and that of animals and the environment. Since Member States have been asked to give their feedback on the criteria by 7 July, Pesticide Action Network Europe and ENSSER sent a letter to all health, environment and agriculture ministers to bring the essential scientific arguments to their attention. Many pesticides and biocides are endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and form a threat to our health and that of animals and the environment. Therefore the EU Pesticide and Biocide Regulations of 2009 and 2012 required the European Commission to lay down criteria to identify EDCs by 14 December 2013. Two and a half years late, EU Commissioner Andriukaitis has now proposed criteria which make it extremely difficult and time consuming to identify any substance as an EDC. One of the reasons is that, in plain disregard of the Pesticide Regulation, and by exceeding its legal power, the Commission has modified the regulatory text, and succeeded in changing the hazard-based Regulation to a risk-based one.
