Citizens across Europe and beyond have a chance to have a say on much-needed legislative and policy changes required to have proper protection against endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). The European Commission has invited the public to share their views on improvements needed for better protection against and information about these harmful substances.
Take 10 minutes to respond to this EU public consultation to show your concern and support for more urgent action to remove EDCs from personal care products, consumer goods and food packaging! The deadline is 9 March 2020 and you can answer in your own language.
This survey is part of the ongoing evaluation (so called “fitness check”) on EU legislation on endocrine disruptors that the European Commission is currently carrying out. This fitness check aims to evaluate whether existing EU legislation on EDCs is coherent and delivering on its objective to protect human health and the environment – an exercise that was long overdue considering the last EU strategy on EDCs dates from 1999.
In parallel, the European Commission also invited public authorities, businesses, academia, civil society organisations and experts to participate until 31 January in an expert stakeholder survey on the lack of coherence of EU legislation on EDCs and options to address these issues. EDC-Free Europe campaigners have taken this opportunity to again highlight our eight demands for an EU strategy on EDCs.
EU legislation that covers endocrine disrupting chemicals has been developed with different approaches depending on the sectors concerned and there are huge gaps that allow EDCs to be present in furniture, personal care products, toys and food packaging. With the launch of these public consultations and commitments made in the EU Green Deal, the European Commission is finally starting to take action to address these gaps. We need to ensure that this process will effectively results in comprehensive measures that truly protect our health and wildlife without further delay.
Members of the EDC-Free Europe coalition have reported concerns about the level of expertise required to answer certain questions in the public consultation, or about their misleading character. To address these concerns, EDC-Free Europe has proposed sample answers and guidance to help answer some of these trickier questions. For more information or support, please contact sandra@edc-free-europe.org
