Brussels, 24/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - Marking the 10th international Pesticides Action Week (20-30 March), environmental NGOs and Heal (Health and Environment Alliance) will unfurl a banner outside the European Commission headquarters on Wednesday 25 March to push it into action to protect people's health against endocrine disruptors.
This demonstration “seeks to raise public awareness to the fact that synthetic pesticides and chemical products which disrupt the endocrine system can be harmful to children, babies and pregnant women” (our translation), says campaign coordinator Sophie Bordères, who has recently submitted an expert scientific report that identifies the presence of pesticides in the hair of women who took part in the study in France.
HEAL and the NGOs involved call on the EU to: - bring in protective criteria as quickly as possible that can define endocrine disrupting chemical products so that the European pesticide and biocide directives can be properly implemented - the list of such criteria was initially expected in September 2013; - encourage all member states to provide parents and future parents - and, in particular, expectant mothers - with full information about the effect of exposure to pesticides and chemical products and on ways to reduce exposure, as Denmark has already done with its guidelines for pregnant women; - increase support to member states which encourage pesticide-free zones.
A coalition of NGOs active in seeking to reduce the level of exposure of humans and the environment to pesticides - HEAL, Pesticide Action Network Europe (PAN Europe), PAN Italia, PAN UK et PAN Germany and Générations Futures - have brought together testimonies from citizens and workers who have suffered pesticide poisoning on a website “Voices of Pesticides” that was put online on 20 March: http://www.voicesofpesticides.info (Aminata Niang)