Europe can and must reduce our exposure to hormone disrupting chemicals, and the European Parliament plays a crucial role in going EDC-Free. This is the message EDC-Free Europe campaigners repeated at a high-level briefing for Members of the European Parliament on Wednesday 6 November 2019.

EDC-Free Europe campaigners travelled from all corners of Europe to meet with their representatives in the European Parliament.

During the event, co-hosted by MEP Christel Schaldemose (S&D) and MEP Martin Hojsik (RE), a large delegation of civil society groups from the EDC-Free Europe coalition met with over thirty MEPs and assistants to exchange views on consumers’ concerns over widespread exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in our daily life and policy priorities to address key gaps in EU policies on EDCs.

MEP Christel Schaldemose, S&D (co-host of the event) says the clock is ticking for the European Commission to deliver on the June 2020 deadline for legislative proposals requested by the European Parliament Resolution.

MEP Petra de Sutter, Greens/EFA (chairwoman of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee) spoke about early life exposure and the importance of protection of vulnerable groups such as pregnant women.

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are linked to many adverse effects and diseases such as hormone dependent cancers, obesity, diabetes, neurological impairments, or reproductive problems, all resulting in very high healthcare costs. This was further highlighted by MEP Petra de Sutter (Greens/EFA), who called for better protection of vulnerable groups against hormone disrupting chemicals.

EDC-Free Europe campaigners also welcomed Mr. Bjorn Hansen, Executive Director of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), who outlined the ongoing work of the agency in relation to EDCs.

Mr Bjorn Hansen, Executive Director of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), explains the agency is working on assessing chemicals as groups of substances rather than on an individual basis.

The European Parliament has for many years called for better protection of people and the environment against EDCs and their impact on health and nature. The European Parliament Resolution adopted on 18 April 2019 with a very large majority calls for legislative proposals by June 2020 to urgently reduce our daily exposure to EDCs from many sources such as food, food contact materials, drinking water, toys, cosmetics, clothes and furniture.

MEP Martin Hojsik, RE (co-host of the event) offers closing remarks and urges those in attendance to question how future generations will look back on how endocrine disrupting chemicals have been handled today.

The EDC-Free Europe coalition is looking forward to pursue the work with the European Parliament and all EU institutions and governments to deliver the health and environment safety on EDCs that millions of European are eager to see happening.

Genon Jensen (EDC-Free Europe spokesperson & Executive Director of the Health and Environment Alliance – HEAL), Pelle Moos (Senior Safety and Health Policy Officer, BEUC) and Sandra Jen (EDC-Free Europe Campaign Coordinator) present, respectively, consumers’ concerns over widespread exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in our daily life and policy priorities to address key gaps in EU policies on EDCs.


All materials shown in this article belong to the EDC-Free Europe campaign. Photo’s were taken by Ghislain Bruyere (https://focalice.com). For more information, please contact sandra@edc-free-europe.org.