PRESS
RELEASE
July 8
2003
EUROPEAN CITIZENS SAY PROTECT US FROM
HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS
Today an impressive coalition of European
environmental, consumer, health, and womens groups presented Europes
most widely supported submission to the European Commissions consultation on
future chemicals law. The submission was presented to European Commissioner
Wallstrom by a coalition of the European Consumers Organisation, European Environmental
Bureau, European Public Health Alliance, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace,
Women in Europe
for a Common Future, and WWF in the last week of the
consultation on the draft directive on the proposed REACH
legislation.
The Declaration for a Toxics
Free Future, signed by over 22,000 people as well as a
wide-ranging collection of public interest organisations,
calls on the European Commission to protect health and the
environment from hazardous chemicals. In addition to the
coalition of groups presenting the Declaration, it was also
supported by organisations including the Netherlands Council
of Women, the German Childbirth Association, and the British
Allergy Foundation. The coalition presented the Declaration to
Commissioner Wallstrom with the demand that the Commission
listen to the people and accept their submission as part of
the ongoing Internet consultation on the draft legislation,
ending on July 10. The Declaration asks the European
Commission to ensure that its new REACH legislation on
chemicals includes
·
an obligation to phase out and
substitute chemicals that accumulate in wildlife, humans or the environment,
and those that disrupt hormones.
·
Restricted uses of such
chemicals should only be permitted temporarily, if safer alternatives are not
available, and the use is essential to society;
·
a full right to know, for both
consumers and businesses, including what
chemicals are present in products;
·
a requirement that products imported into the
EU have to conform to the same safety standards as those made in the EU.
The widespread contamination of people and
wildlife with man-made chemicals is well documented: 300 man-made chemicals
have been found in the bodies of people with no special exposure to chemicals;
and many man-made chemicals have been founded in house dust and rainwater. A
recent report by eminent UK scientists [1]
confirmed the need for a
fundamental reform of
chemicals policy, with one of its authors stating Given our
understanding of the way chemicals interact with the
environment, you could say we are running a gigantic
experiment with humans and all other living things as the
subject. This report also endorsed the importance of
substituting the worst chemicals with safer
alternatives.
In addition to the 22,000 citizens calling
for strong EU legislation on chemicals, a separate declaration in favour of
REACH has been submitted by over 60 US
organisations (including the Communications Workers of America and The Breast
Cancer Fund) and signed by more than 10,000 US citizens. In
order to make REACH work for civil society,
European
Environmental Bureau, Friends
of the Earth, Greenpeace and WWF are also submitting detailed
joint comments to the Commissions consultation which ends on
July 10.
1. ‘Chemicals in products. Safeguarding
human health and the Environment’, UK Royal Commission
on Environment and Pollution, June 2003. http://www.rcep.org.uk/chemicals.html
Further
information
Stefan
Scheuer
European Environmental
Bureau
Tel: +32 2
2891304
Stefan.scheuer@eeb.org
Dr A. Michael
Warhurst
WWF European Policy
Office
Tel: +32 2 740
0926
mwarhurst@wwfepo.org
Jorgo
Iwasaki-Riss / Helen Perivier
Greenpeace International,
European Unit
Tel: +32 2 274 1907/ +32 2
274 1901
Jorgo.riss@diala.greenpeace.org
Helen.perivier@diala.greenpeace.org
Mary Taylor
Friends of the
Earth,
Tel: + 44 20 7566
1649
maryt@foe.co.uk
Patricia
Cameron
BUND (Friends of the Earth Germany),
Tel: +49 175
5963816,
patricia.cameron@bund.net
(or
+49 171 3578233, Uwe Schneidewind) Genon
Jensen
European Public Health Alliance
Tel: +32 2 230
3056
genon@epha.org
Sylvia
Altamira
Women in Europe for a Common
Future
Tel +31 30 23 10
300
sylvia@wecf.org
Charlotte de
Roo
The European Consumers
Organisation
Tel: +32 2 743
1593
environment@beuc.org
WWF UKs Chemicals and Health
campaign:
http://www.wwf.org.uk/chemicals/
EEB Chemicals web
site:
http://www.eeb.org/activities/chemicals/main.htm
Friends of the Earths Safer
Chemicals Campaign:
http://www.foe.co.uk/saferchemicals
Greenpeace Chemicals Campaign
and Consuming Chemicals, a report on
hazardous chemicals in house
dust
http://www.greenpeace.org/chemicals
WWFs EU chemicals web site
(includes introductory briefing):
http://www.panda.org/epo/toxics
EEB, Friends of the Earth,
Greenpeace coalition multi lingual website
on
the
legislation
http://www.chemicalreaction.org/
European Public Health Alliance
http://www.epha.org/
Women in Europe for a common
future http://www.antenna.nl/wecf/WECF.html
BEUC, the European Consumers'
Organisation http://www.beuc.org
******
OUR DEMANDS FOR A
TOXICS-FREE FUTURE
We, the undersigned, 429 organisations and
22,464 citizens around the world, from Australia
to Zaire, wish to
ensure that our health and that of the environment will be
properly protected from hazardous chemicals. We therefore ask
the European Commission to ensure that the new chemicals
legislation enforces:
·
an obligation to phase out
chemicals that accumulate in wildlife,
humans or the environment, and those that disrupt hormones.
Restricted uses of such chemicals should
only be permitted temporarily, if safer alternatives are not available, and the
use is essential to society;
·
a full right to know, for both
consumers and businesses, including what
chemicals are present in products; and
·
a requirement that products
imported into the EU have to conform to
the same safety standards as those made in the EU.
The draft legislation does
not implement these three points. We consider that the new
system will not be workable, and will not effectively protect
future generations, unless these measures are
taken.
Please take this declaration
as our submission to the Commission's consultation on the
workability of the chemicals legislation.
John Hontelez, European
Environmental Bureau, Secretary General
Martin Rocholl, Friends of the Earth Europe, Director
Helen Perivier, Greenpeace
International, European Toxic Coordinator
Tony Long WWF, European
Policy Office, Director
Charlotte de Roo, The European Consumers
Organisation, Environment, Safety and Health Policy Adviser
Genon K. Jensen, European Public Health Alliance, Policy
Director
Marie Kranendonk, Women in Europe
for a Common Future,
Director
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