On Thursday 7 December, the day on which the criteria for biocides came into force, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) published draft guidelines on the criteria for identifying endocrine disruptors. Consultation will run until 31 January 2018.
In June 2016, European Commission proposed a raft of scientific criteria for identifying – and, at the end of the day, banning – endocrine disruptors found in pesticides and biocides. At the same time, it charged EFSA and ECHA with drafting guidelines that would permit immediate, consistent and transparent implementation of the new criteria by competent agencies and authorities.
Since pesticides and biocides are governed by different regulations the new criteria have also had to go through different adoption procedures. The biocides part may have been adopted without too much difficulty but further discussion, on the basis of an amended proposal, will be required on the pesticides part on 12 and 13 December (see EUROPE 11916).
EFSA and ECHA have already carried out have already carried out to two targeted consultations on an initial draft of the text with member state experts and industry and civil society stakeholders. They now seek the views of all stakeholders on an updated version.
PAN Europe concerned. The organisation PAN Europe has expressed concern at the draft text. It says the document appears to have “come from the future” as it presumes a very high level of understanding of the function of the endocrine system and of how substances cause endocrine disruption, which currently do not exist.
PAN Europe is critical that the guidelines focus only on the adverse effects that are mediated through interaction with specific hormones: namely, oestrogen, androgen, thyroid and steroidogenic. As a result, it says, chemicals will not be assessed for endocrine-related diseases of different modalities, such as obesity, diabetes, cognition and behavioural dysfunction.
“The guidance document completely overlooks the fact that European law is based on the precautionary principle; we don’t need to understand the complete mode of action through which a chemical causes an adverse effect, in order to limit human and environmental exposure”, stresses Hans Muilerman, chemical officer of PAN Europe.
The draft guidelines can be viewed at: http://bit.ly/2Bjgh2
The amended draft pesticides criteria can be viewed at: http://bit.ly/2AvneJq (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)