EU to better protect citizens,environment from endocrine disruptors

Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-04 23:46:51|Editor: yan
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BRUSSELS, July 4 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission on Tuesday said in its press release that the member states of European Union (EU) have voted in favour of its proposal on scientific criteria to identify endocrine disruptors in the field of plant protection products.

The scientific criteria identify known and presumed endocrine disruptors and evidence from animal, in-vitro or in-silico studies can be used to identify a substance as endocrine disruptor, according to the Commission.

It said that the EU legislation provides that active substances used in plant protection products are only approved for a limited period of time, and that these approvals are routinely reviewed.

The legislation also provides that active substances which are endocrine disruptors shall not be approved, unless there is negligible exposure in which case they may be approved under restricted conditions.

The Commission said that the criteria serve as an important step towards greater protection of citizens and environment from harmful substances by enabling it to start working on a new strategy to minimise exposure to endocrine disruptors.

The proposal agreed on Tuesday will be sent to the Council of European Union and the European Parliament. They will have three months to examine it before final adoption by the Commission.

The text will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal of the EU and be applicable six months after this, said the Commission.

Endocrine disruptors are chemicals which impact on the hormone system of animals and humans. The World Health Organisation defined in 2002 an endocrine disruptor as a substance or mixture that alters function(s) of the endocrine system and consequently causes adverse health effects in an intact organism, or its progeny, or (sub) populations.

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