By Arthur Neslen – The Guardian, 16 June 2016
Endocrines are hormone-altering chemicals common in everyday substances from paint to pesticides. Photograph: Brian Brown / Alamy/Alamy
European commission launches world’s first system for classifying and banning endocrine disruptors against a barrage of criticism
The European commission has launched the world’s first system for classifying and banning endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), against a barrage of criticism from scientists, NGOs, industry and consumer groups.
Endocrines are hormone-altering chemicals common in everyday substances from paint to pesticides that have been linked to an array of illnesses including cancer, infertility, obesity, diabetes, birth defects and reproductive problems.
Attempts to regulate them have been plagued by missed deadlines, buried official papers, censure from EU courts, and US pressure within the TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) negotiations.
Hailing the release of the long-delayed endocrines policy, the EU’s president, Jean-Claude Juncker, said that it showed that the commission was: “committed to ensuring the highest level of protection of both human health and the environment.”
But the proposal triggered an immediate backlash from endocrine scientists and green groups who said that it set an impossibly high burden for proof of public harm, when the onus should have been on chemicals manufacturers to show their products were safe.
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