On July 24, 2015 the European Commission’s (EC) Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) published the report on the public consultation on defining criteria for identifying endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). The public consultation was part of the impact assessment on the EDC criteria and was open from September 26, 2014 to January 16, 2015 (FPF reported). More than 27,000 responses were submitted and they have been published on DG SANTE’s website in February 2015 (FPF reported). Respondents included doctors, farmers, non-governmental organizations, the chemical, electronic, food, and medical devices industry, water companies, as well as scientists. More than 90% of received responses were from individuals as opposed to responses on behalf of organizations. Three EU governments and 18 EU authorities have sent comments, as well as six non-EU governments and six non-EU authorities. There were only two health institutions and hospitals that responded. The respondents’ opinions on the four different options for EDC criteria and the three different options for regulatory decision making, as laid out in the EU roadmap for EDCs (FPF reported), varied significantly. Overall, the respondents expressed that there is a need for definitive EU-wide criteria for EDCs and therefore the current interim criteria set in the Plant Protection Product Regulation (EC 1107/2009) and the Biocidal Products Regulation (EU 528/2012) are not supported by the consultation. The public consultation provided useful input for the impact assessment on the EDC criteria and policy options, DG SANTE stated.
Once the EDC criteria are defined under the Plant Protection Product Regulation and the Biocidal Products Regulation, it is to be seen whether the criteria will also be used in other areas of regulation, such as cosmetics, toys and food contact materials (FCMs).
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EC – DG SANTE (July 22, 2015). “Report on public consultation on defining criteria for identifying endocrine disruptors in the context of the implementation of the Plant Protection Product Regulation and Biocidal Products Regulation.” (pdf)
ChemSec (August 4, 2015). “NGOs and civil society calls for a hazard-based assessment of EDCs, industry does not.“
