Environmental organisation Générations Futures has delivered a warning that endocrine disruptors are to be found virtually everywhere in the water drunk in France. According to a new investigation published on Friday 13 January, 73.3% of the most commonly found pesticides (or their breakdown products) in surface water (11 out of 15) in mainland France in 2013 are suspected of being endocrine disruptors.
“In report after report, our organisation has continued to warn about the exposure of people, and in particular the most vulnerable, to endocrine disruptors. This new report again demonstrates the need for urgent action!” said François Veillerette, Director of Générations Futures, expressing relief that the recent proposals from the Commission had not been supported by the member states at their meeting on 21 December.
According to our information, at that meeting ten member states (Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Estonia, Croatia, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Romania and Finland) backed the new criteria, four (Denmark, Spain, France and Sweden) were against them, and thirteen (Austria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Latvia, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia and United Kingdom) abstained. Twelve member states (Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Ireland, Italy, Croatia, Latvia, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and United Kingdom) supported the derogations, five (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France and Sweden) opposed them, and ten (Cyprus, Germany, Spain, Greece, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Netherlands, Poland and Slovenia) abstained. Lithuania did not attend the meeting.
The next meeting of the standing committee on plants, animals, food and feed will take place on 23 January. At this meeting experts will only discuss the issue.
The report can be found at:
http://www.generatiopns-futures.fr/pesticides/perturbateurs-endocriniens-dans-leau=exppert8 (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)