On Tuesday 13 May, MEPs on the Environment Committee rejected (43 votes against, 40 in favour and 2 abstentions) the objection to the Commission’s draft implementing decision authorising 2,2-dibromo-2-cyanoacetamide (DBNPA) as an existing active substance for use in biocidal products.
The substance DBNPA is used to treat paper used for packaging foodstuffs and for the short-term conservation of paint and coatings.
In their objection, Christophe Clergeau (S&D, French), Sirpa Pietikäinen (EPP, Finnish), Michal Wiezik (Renew Europe, Slovak), Jutta Paulus (Greens/EFA, German) and Anja Hazekamp (The Left, Dutch) stated that the authorisation of this “endocrine disruptor for five years was not proportionate, given the unacceptable risks that DBNPA poses to human health and the environment”. These MEPs deplore the fact that the European Commission is “underestimating the risks” of a substance that comes into contact with the food chain.
Because it has no “suitable alternative”, this substance is, on the contrary, “essential for paper manufacture”, argued Christine Schneider (EPP, German). DBPA is “used under strictly controlled industrial conditions, which do not represent any risk”, she insisted.
“As always, the Commission is seeking to establish a benefit-risk ratio” that minimises the risk, deplored Christophe Clergeau.
See objection: https://aeur.eu/f/gsv (Original version in French by Florent Servia)