The Health Directory for the European Commission has failed to fulfil its duty to produce scientific criteria for endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) that will protect the health of humans, animals and the environment from exposure to these chemicals.
On the 15th of June, 2,5 years after its deadline, Health Commissioner Andriukaitis finally announced the selected EDC criteria together with significant changes in the legislation[1]. To our deep disappointment, the Commission not only proposed criteria with unreasonably high burden of proof that will take years of testing to prove a chemical is an EDC, but now with the new text, even when an EDC is identified it won’t get banned from use in agriculture if the “risk” is negligible. Farmers, residents, the environment and consumers will still be exposed to these non-threshold chemicals.