Brussels, 01/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is continuing consultations with a view to determining a way of identifying chemicals that present endocrine disrupting properties. On Monday 29 February, Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis met representatives of the Endocrine Society who argue for a danger- rather than risk-based approach.
Endocrine disruptors are chemicals which interfere with the hormonal system, and which have potentially harmful effects on health and the environment. Current rules on the marketing of biocides (Regulation EC 528/2012) and plant health products (Regulation EC 1107/2009) made provision for the publication of “scientific criteria for the determination of endocrine-disrupting properties”. The Commission is currently considering these criteria through an impact assessment of the costs and socio-economic benefits of the various possible options for these criteria, including options amending the sectoral legislation. It is expected to publish its decision before summer (almost two and a half years later than stipulated by the legislation).
On Monday 29 February, three representatives of the Endocrine Society, dedicated to hormone research and the clinical practice of endocrinology, met Commissioner Andriukaitis. “The commissioner seemed to us to listen carefully and to be open to our arguments. However, we are fearful that he will focus on the controversial aspects and a complicated approach to the issue. There are solid, unquestionable data and a simple approach, just as for carcinogens, can also apply”, said Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, Endocrine Society member and paediatrician endocrinologist.
At the meeting, the Society called on the Commission to adopt an approach that is danger-based rather than risk-based, as the industry wants. It supports the use of the WHO/IPCS definition and the introduction of further categories based on the differing degrees of evidence (active substances, suspected disruptors and confirmed disruptors), that is option 3 of the four proposed by the Commission in its roadmap. This scenario has been rejected by the industry and by a number of the EU's trading partners, such as Colombia and Argentina, which are concerned about the negative impact on the European market. According to the French union of plant-protection industries (UIPP), 40% of the European phyto-market would be put in danger. On 11 January, the commissioner met PlasticsEurope to discuss Bisphenol A, use of which is banned in France in food containers because of its endocrine disrupting properties. Generally, the industry prefers option 4, in which the WHO/IPCS definition is used with potency as the criterion.
“We are against account being taken of the strength of an agent, assessed by its effect dependent on the potency on a set parameter, as supported by the industry”, said Bourguignon. He advances three arguments to support his case: sensitivity will differ depending on the selected target, the effects differ depending on the selected target parameter and, finally, he believes that the relationship between dosage and effect does not allow calculation in terms of strength in that it is not always linear (sometimes the effects can disappear then return later). “At the meeting, we presented a summary of 1,300 peer-reviewed articles and the cost of endocrine disruptors, estimated at €157 billion per year. … The debate must not obscure the convergence and consensus that exist within the scientific community”, argued the Belgian paediatrician. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)