20/06/2017 (Agence Europe) – The member states are expected to reach an agreement during another meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives to the EU on 4 July. This agreement will focus on the criteria to help define what pesticides act as “endocrine disruptors”. The member states will be requested to give their viewpoints on three criteria: the appearance of adverse side effects; the mode of endocrine action and the correlation between the two previous criteria (see EUROPE 11573). The draft text has been amended numerous times but this time provides an exception for active substances that deliberately disrupt the endocrine system of different organisms, apart from vertebrates. (SPj)