The European Commission has published a report summarizing the answers received from a targeted stakeholder consultation, that was part of the ongoing evaluation of existing European regulations on hormone disruptors and which closed in January of this year. Over 180 responses were collected from a wide range of stakeholders, including the EDC-Free Europe campaign and many of our coalition partners.

Key findings include:

  • Two third of respondents consider the level of protection from EDCs by EU regulations is insufficient for different groups of the population and in particular, 66% of respondents consider protection to be insufficient for the unborn child and exposure during pregnancy
  • 53% said a category for suspected endocrine disruptors should be introduced into legislation – this would be coherent with current approaches to rank other chemicals, for example how cancer-causing chemicals are classified.
  • 93% of respondents consider the absence of harmonised criteria to identify endocrine disruptors an important problem, leading to incoherent identification across sectors. Furthermore
  • 73% of respondents indicated they are aware of inconsistencies and gaps in the way EDCs are identified and controlled in the European Union.

The stakeholder survey was part of an ongoing evaluation, or ‘fitness check’, aiming to screen whether existing EU legislation on EDCs is coherent and delivering on its objective to protect human health and the environment. This exercise is long overdue, considering the last EU strategy on endocrine disrupting chemicals dates from 1999 – over two decades ago. 

In parallel to this survey, the European Commission also invited citizens across Europe to share their views on the improvements needed for better protection against and information about these harmful substances. The results of this public consultation are expected to be made available in the second quarter of 2020.

The EDC-Free Europe campaign and 12 campaign partners took part in the European Commission stakeholder survey. Check out their answers below: