EU Member States adopt revised EDC criteria for pesticides

Representatives from the European Member States in the EU Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (SCOPAFF) today voted in favour of a revised European Commission proposal on identification criteria for endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs).

The meeting was convened due to the European Parliament veto on an earlier version of the criteria, which Members of the European Parliament considered was not protective of citizens’ health and an illegal reopening of the pesticides regulation.

The criteria agreed today partly took into account the European Parliament’s demand by removing a problematic exemption that would have left numerous endocrine disrupting pesticides unaddressed. However, the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) reiterates concerns stated earlier – alongside numerous public health voices and respected scientific societies - about the very high burden of proof required in the criteria that have now been adopted to identify EDCs. This is of particular concern in the context of growing evidence that human exposure to environmental pollutants such as endocrine disruptors are weighing heavily on public budgets.

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