Following the growing evidence on the hormone-related adverse health effects in human and wildlife due to exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), the European Union has taken the initiative to regulate and minimise human and environmental exposure to these substances.
The task to develop scientific criteria to identify EDCs was given to the European Commission, who missed its deadline of delivery on 31st of December 2013 as requested by European law. Although initially required by PPPR 1107/2009 and BPR 528/2012, the criteria must be “horizontal”- they will apply across all EU regulations related to chemicals (Industrial Chemicals, Cosmetics, Medical Devices etc).
A final draft of scientific EDC-criteria had been developed by DG Environment -a result of an extensive work among leading scientists in the field of endocrinology and Member States- but the criteria never got published. The Commission’s Secretary General broke the agreement in July 2013, stopped the criteria-setting process and requested an impact assessment.
The reasoning behind this action was that Europe was the first to regulate the presence of such chemicals in its products and therefore the impact of such regulation should be assessed. The Commission admitted that several stakeholders had diverging views on the matter and the decision would affect several sectors, particularly the trade and chemical industry sector. The Commission also announced that “diverging views still exist on many points within the scientific community and amongst regulators worldwide”. But in reality among the specialists in the field of endocrine disruption there is already a consensus that exposure to EDCs is an issue of concern and we need to act urgently to protect our children and the future generations.
Following the Commission’s statement, PAN Europe decided to bring forwards the scientific opinions of experts in the field of endocrinology, by organising a meeting in the European Parliament together with MEP Nicolas Caputo on 30th of June 2015 “Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals and Future Generations: Time for the EU to Take Action”.
The criteria requested by European Law have to be scientific. In this report, we have included scientific opinions, and the speeches of the invited scientist from the 2015 Parliamentary meeting but also of the invited European regulators (from EFSA, Commission’s Health Directory DG SANTE and Environmental Directory DG ENV).
We hope with this compilation to help the general public and regulators to understand the crucial need to regulate the use of EDCs in Europe in a manner that will protect humans, particularly the most vulnerable babies-in-the-womb, newborns and children as well as the environment and all its ecosystems. The decision of the “correct” scientific criteria will define the health of our future generations.