| 07/12/2005
- More than 11.000 e-mails calling for a strong new EU chemicals
policy have flooded in the last two months the e-mail boxes
of top EU politicians. Responding
to WWF’s call for action, citizens from all over Europe
and beyond have expressed their concern over toxic chemicals
in e-mails addressed to the president of the European
Commission, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, the Commissioner
for Industry, Günter Verhuegen, and the Commissioner
for Environment, Stavros Dimas.
Man-made chemicals can be found all
around us, from clothes to cosmetics, and from baby bottles
to computers. Despite this, at present we lack basic data
on the environmental and health impacts of 90 per cent
of substances. Concerned about the risks that this lack
of information poses, citizens have asked the European
Commission to make sure that the competent decision-makers
seize this unique opportunity to ensure a safer future
for people and wildlife by putting in place a robust new
chemical law (REACH).
However, the European Commission has been recently busier
undermining its original REACH proposal than listening
to citizen’s demands and working towards strengthening
it. Furthermore, although a positive step was taken to
substitute hazardous chemicals by safer alternatives,
the European Parliament voted on the 17th of November
to severely weaken crucial safety testing requirements
for all chemicals covered by REACH.
A REACH adopted on this basis would
not deliver the health and environment protection the
public needs, as it would leave thousands of chemicals
without basic toxicity data and so would hamper the identification
of harmful chemicals, such as hormone disrupters.
Therefore, it is crucial that the
European Commission now listens to the concerns of the
people and makes sure that the Council of Ministers, reaching
a political agreement on REACH on the 13th of December,
agrees to the replacement of all the hazardous chemicals
that are identified, with safer alternatives whenever
these are available. |
