PAN Europe calls the move a "gift to the pesticide industry"

Europeans and the environment will continue to be exposed to pesticides that cause endocrine-related diseases in humans, animals and wildlife if this week’s proposal from the EU Commission to amend the pesticides law (1107/2009) is allowed to stand.

It would mean that a pesticide could be approved if it was an endocrine disruptor but posed a "negligible risk" to humans. Currently the law says an endocrine disruptor can only be approved if there is "negligible exposure".

The amendment would also mean that a pesticide could be approved if there was negligible risk to non-target organisms, rather than negligible exposure, as now.

Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Europe has called the concept of negligible risk "unrealistic and dangerous" and says it stands to increase the presence of these harmful substances in our food by hundreds or thousands of times.

The draft proposal would amend the 2009 law agreed by the European Parliament, Council and Commission. This is controversial because the Parliament has no formal say over the proposed Commission regulation, while it had co-decision over the 2009 regulation.

In this week’s Standing Committee of Plants Animals Food and Feed of Member States (July 19–20), DG SANTE is bringing the proposal back to the table. PAN Europe says that though it seems innocent at first glance, it violates the essential provisions of European Law to provide a high level of protection for humans, animals and the environment.

PAN Europe says the proposal will "massively increase the permitted residues in food – from close to the limit of detection i.e. 0.01 mg/kg to normal Maximum Residue Limits, which are often set at around 5-10 mg/kg, as with any other authorised non-hazardous pesticides."

PAN Europe adds, "Hiding behind complex and technical wording, now the industry can keep a hazardous product on the market even though it has been demonstrated to cause serious irreversible endocrine-related disorders and diseases. Exposure may now not be negligible, but hundred or thousand times higher."

Only last May the controversial criteria to identify pesticides that are endocrine disruptors entered into force. The criteria were criticized by the scientific community, some Member States, and civil society organisations for having an excessively high burden of proof, requiring scientific knowledge that we currently do not have, and failing to meet the adequate level of protection foreseen by the pesticides regulation. But while society is concerned about the protection of our children from ED pesticides, DG SANTE’s proposal guarantees that these hazardous chemicals will remain on the market and that private profit will be protected.

Hans Muilerman, PAN Europe’s chemicals officer, said, “The laborious 9-year work and debate on endocrine criteria in the end will be made futile with this proposal, since meeting the criteria will have no impact and ED pesticides will be kept on the market."

PAN said in a statement, "The amendment claims to be based on new evidence from EFSA’s 2013 opinion, while conveniently 'cherry-picking' a phrase to justify turning the hazard-based criteria for endocrine disruptors into risk-based criteria. The proposal neglects to mention that another scientific report in 2013 from the Commission’s JRC showed there was no scientific consensus on a safe limit of exposure for endocrine disrupting chemicals. Moreover, it also misses to refer to much more recent and up-to-date scientific evidence from the Commission itself demonstrating that current testing protocols have major data gaps, and that low dose effect during prenatal periods are not adequately addressed."

Angeliki Lysimachou, PAN Europe’s environmental toxicologist, said, “It’s not up to the Commission nor to SCoPAFF to change the provisions of the European Law. Endocrine disruptor pesticides can cause serious, irreversible diseases to foetuses and children at low doses, similar to the environmental [level]." She added that the Commission should respect the law and let the "negligible exposure" wording stand.

Source: Pesticide Action Network Europe
https://www.pan-europe.info/press-releases/2018/07/collapse-endocrine-disruptors%E2%80%99-policy-commission%E2%80%99s-ultimate-gift-pesticide