In an opinion article published on the EU political news and information website The Parliament Magazine on March 27, 2015 Michèle Rivasi, a French Member of the European Parliament (MEP), criticizes the European Commission’s lack of action over endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Rivasi even considers the lack of effective action in relation to EDCs to be “completely criminal”. Rivasi describes a story of Sophie Bordères, a coordinator of the Pesticides Action Week (PAW), who came to Brussels, Belgium to raise awareness of the harm to human health associated with exposure to endocrine disrupting pesticides. Bordères participated in a recent study conducted by the non-governmental organization Générations Futures. In the study, hair samples from 28 young French women, including Bordères herself, were analyzed for 64 suspected EDCs, including 54 pesticides or pesticide metabolites, six brominated flame retardants and four polychlorinated biphenyls. An average of 21 EDCs were found per woman. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has just recently classified some of the pesticides found in these women’s bodies as probable carcinogens. Rivasi highlights that the Commission missed its December 2013 deadline to set the criteria for identifying EDCs and suggests that some representatives of the Commission are trying to buy time as a result of strong industry lobbying. Rivasi herself fully supports initiatives like PAW and the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL). Banning dangerous chemicals from the market is not sufficient. Instead, we must prevent such chemicals from entering the market, Rivasi stresses.

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Michèle Rivasi (March 27, 2015). “Lack of EU action on hormone disruptors ‘completely criminal’.” The Parliament Magazine

HEAL (March 26, 2015). “Media advisory – Mums and parents-to-be call for reductions in pesticide use.

HEAL (March 12, 2015). “Nineteen endocrine disrupting pesticides found in samples of women’s hair.

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