Move to allay public fears over chemicals

Date: 04/11/1999

By Gareth Harding

THE European Commission will next week seek to allay public fears about the potentially harmful effects of chemicals which mimic natural hormones, known as endocrine disrupters, by outlining a raft of short, medium and long-term measures to tackle the problem.

A long-awaited strategy paper which has been drawn up by the Commission's environment directorate-general will urge EU authorities to draw up a priority list of substances which might be regarded as hormone-mimicking.

However, the EU executive is unlikely to propose any new laws to curb the use of such chemicals as it believes current environmental legislation is adequate to deal with the problem.

The paper admits that there is "growing concern" about the effects of endocrine-disrupting substances, which have been linked to birth defects in animals and may cause cancer and behavioural changes in humans. But it says further research is needed to reduce the "considerable uncertainties and data gaps" which exist before a 'black list' of chemicals can be drawn up.

In the meantime, states the draft strategy, "consideration should be given to measures to reduce exposure to endocrine disrupters in line with the precautionary principle".

The Commission is due to publish a paper on how this principle should be applied before the end of this year to clear up the turmoil caused by recent publicity surrounding such issues as hormone-treated beef and genetically modified foods.

The chemical industry is, however, already voicing "serious concerns" about aspects of the paper. Rob Taalman, of the sector's trade body CEFIC, said it was a "bit premature" to draw up a list of suspect substances in the absence of agreed test methods to identify endocrine-disrupters.

However, the European Parliament and environmental groups are unlikely to be willing to wait. MEPs called last year for hormone-mimicking substances to be phased out in the EU and for the Union's chemicals policy to be based on a strict interpretation of the precautionary principle.

The Commission's draft paper has also come under fire from environmental groups. "Instead of using this opportunity to come up with new legislation, the overall idea of the draft strategy is to fit endocrine-disrupters into existing legislation, which has failed even on well-known hazardous substances," said Greenpeace's Axel Singhofen.

The Commission confesses that it is caught between a rock and a hard place on this highly-emotive issue. It recognises that it must act "because of the potential seriousness of the public's concerns", but also knows that it cannot do anything until clearer evidence of the harmful effects of certain chemicals emerges.

The European Commission will seek to allay public fears about the potentially harmful effects of chemicals which mimic natural hormones, known as endocrine disrupters, by outlining a raft of short, medium and long-term measures to tackle the problem.