Public interest groups are calling on the EU Commission to ban the recycling of materials containing toxic flame retardants.
In an open letter, the Centre for International Environmental Law, the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), Women in Europe for Common Future (WECF) (EDC-Free campaign partners) and IPEN, supported by public interest groups worldwide, highlighted the need to stop DecaBDE reappearing in recycled products.
DecaBDE is a toxic flame retardant mainly used in plastics for electronic and electrical equipment and in textiles. The substance is bioaccumulative, meaning it accumulates in living organisms and persistent, thereby staying in the environment for years. It also has potential adverse effects on human and animal hormone, reproductive, and nervous systems.
The issue will be addressed by both the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in September and the Stockholm Convention POPs Review committee in October.
The letter is available here
EDC-Free campaign partners who signed the letter:
Breast Cancer UK, BUND, CIEL, CHEM Trust, CPES, Ecologistas en Acción, EEB, Fundación Vivo Sano, Greenpeace, HEAL, HCWH, WECF
EDC-Free campaign supporters who signed the letter: Commonweal, Eco-Accord, Fundación Alborada, IDEA - Irish Doctors Environmental Association, Quercus – National Association for Nature Conservation , TEDX - The Endocrine Disruption Exchange, and Wemos.
Post provided by the EDC-Free Secretariat
