Endocrine disruptors Archives

The European Commission has decided to extend the licence for glyphosate by 18 months, after member states failed to achieve a qualified majority in favour or against the executive’s proposal.

The pesticide industry is “extremely disappointed” with the European Commission’s proposal to identify endocrine disruptors that was presented on Wednesday (15 June).

MEPs have castigated the European Commission over the delay to the definition of endocrine disruptors and demanded swift action. Initially due for December 2013, the definition has fallen two and a half years behind schedule. EURACTIV France reports.

The debate on hormone disruptors in the EU is more political than scientific. A decision to ignore the question of potency would cause needless disruption to regulators, industries and consumers, writes Christopher Borgert.

After a delay of more than two years, the criteria defining hormone disruptors could be presented at the meeting of the College of European Commissioners on 15 June, Le Monde reported on Friday (20 May). EURACTIV's partner Journal de l'Environnement reports.

More and more women are finding it difficult to get pregnant, with mounting evidence suggesting chemicals used in plasticisers and pesticides are responsible. The consequences are estimated to cost the EU €1.4 billion per year. EURACTIV Germany reports.

The European Commission has responded to criticism over its weaknesses on health and food safety with a series of goodwill gestures on hormone disruptors and glyphosate. EURACTIV France reports.

Endocrine disruptors pose a substantial risk to public health, yet the European Commission has dawdled time and again on introducing measures that would finally limit their use. Now is the time to put this right, write Genon Jensen and Michael Warhurst.

Most food products are now packaged in plastic. German researchers have now shown that plasticisers can enter the body, disrupt hormone production, and cause people to gain weight. EURACTIV Germany reports.

The Danish consumer rights organisation Forbrugerrådet Tænk wants to keep cosmetics regulation out of the Transatlantic free trade negotiations, saying it is worried that the EU will "sell out" its strict standards.

A new online guide by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) promises to offer “plain English” information about the hazard profiles of thousands of chemicals, offering a new tool for citizens to hold companies and regulators to account.

The General Court of the European Union on Wednesday (16 December) backed Sweden, saying that the European Commission breached EU law by failing to publish a definition for hormone-affecting chemicals or 'endocrine disrupters'.

The European Parliament overwhelmingly rejected the Commission's plans to allow the recycling of PVC plastics containing DEHP, a hormone disruptor banned in the EU since February 2015. Our partner Journal de l'Environnement reports. 

An investigation has found that the majority of French lettuce contains traces of hormone disrupting chemicals, some of which are banned. Journal de l'Environnement reports. 

A ruling by the French Constitutional Council has undermined the country's ban on Bisphenol A. France's highest court ruled that manufacturers can continue export products that contain the substance. EURACTIV France reports. 

The European Union published its public consultation on hormone disrupters on Friday 24 July. Europe’s trading partners fear the economic impact of tighter regulation, Journal de l'environnement reports. 

The European Commission’s drive to simplify legislation for businesses – the Better Regulation Agenda – has come under fire from trade unions for blocking EU laws that could save thousands of lives per year.

The French Council of State has questioned the constitutionality of the country’s ban on Bisphenol A in food packaging, following a request from the plastics industry. The chemical was outlawed in January this year. EURACTIV France reports. 

Vytenis Andriukaitis, the EU's Health and Food Safety Commissioner, passionately defended the European Commission's role in a dispute over delayed proposals to regulate hormone-affecting chemicals, telling a Brussels event that "my services are not highway robbers with knifes in their hands".

The European Commission and the chemicals industry have rejected claims, revealed by leaked emails in a new NGO report, that they actively sought to slow down work on the definition of criteria for regulating hormone disrupting chemicals.

A growing number of officials in the European Commission's health unit are complaining that health and food safety legislation is being delayed due to slow decision-making from Frans Timmermans, the Commission's First Vice-President in charge of Better Regulation.

As many as 31 pesticides with a value running into billions of pounds could have been banned because of potential health risks, if a blocked EU paper on hormone-mimicking chemicals had been acted upon, the Guardian has learned.

The European Commission's public consultation on endocrine disruptors, which ends today (16 January) is one positive step in a process of regulating chemical substances which has already been taking too long, says Jean-Charles Bocquet.