On Wednesday 11 December, the European Commission published the European Green Deal, setting out a path towards a sustainable and green Europe. It includes plans for a toxic-free environment and to rapidly make European regulations on endocrine disruptors reflect scientific evidence.
Leading up to the announcement of the European Green Deal, EDC-Free Europe campaigners expressed concerns that action against the impacts of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) on our health or the environment were absent from a leaked draft.
The final version of the European Green Deal re-instates the need to ensure a toxic-free environment, and calls for action against our daily exposure to EDCs to be put at the core of the EU policy agenda. The EU Commission also commits to produce a new “chemicals strategy for sustainability” by June 2020, which will include action on EDCs, combination (mixture) effects and very persistent chemicals.
The European Green Deal also includes specific commitments to address chemical pollution of water, air and soil with a “zero pollution action plan for water, air and soil by 2021”, a “Farm to Fork” strategy by early 2020 and “measures, including legislative, to significantly reduce the use and risk of chemical pesticides, as well as the use of fertilizers and antibiotics” by 2021.
Several EDC-Free Europe campaign partners reacted to the announcement of the Green Deal:
