In an article published on May 4, 2017 by regulatory news provider Chemical Watch, editor Vanessa Zainzinger informed that the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (PAFF Committee) will cast a vote on the European Commission’s (EC) latest proposal for criteria to identify endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) during an upcoming meeting on May 17-18, 2017. The EC had refrained from calling for a vote at the past PAFF Committee meetings in February 2017 (FPF reported) and December 2016 (FPF reported).

Zainzinger further reported that the EC’s latest proposal “clarifies that ‘presumed’ and ‘known’ EDCs will be identified” and also “revises an exemption for substances, whose intended mode of action is to target harmful organisms via their endocrine system.” Regarding the latter, the new proposal sets out that substances with an endocrine mode of action “may be approved only if, following a risk assessment, their use does not lead to unacceptable effects on any non-target organisms,” Zainzinger explained.

With these changes, the EC tries to address concerns voiced by several EU Member States (MS) (FPF reported). However, non-governmental organizations, such as PAN Europe, remain critical of the criteria, highlighting the high level of evidence required to identify an EDC (FPF reported). Also, a separate draft legal act, proposing to change the wording of the plant protection products regulation from “negligible exposure” to “negligible risk” regarding exceptions for active substances with endocrine disrupting properties (FPF reported), remains controversial among MS.

The EC’s revised draft EDC criteria and information regarding past and upcoming meetings can be found on the website of the EC’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE).

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Vanessa Zainzinger (May 4, 2017). “Pesticides committee to vote on EDC criteria.Chemical Watch

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