Earlier this week, Member States of the European Union voted in favor of draft criteria to define endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). The Endocrine Society is extremely concerned that the criteria will fail to identify EDCs that are currently causing human harm and will not secure a high level of health and environmental protection.
Therefore, the Endocrine Society is urging the European Parliament to improve transparency surrounding the process for implementing the criteria and to engage endocrine scientists in further decision-making steps.
The European Parliament will vote on the criteria in the coming months, and the Endocrine Society encourages the Parliament to gather input from endocrine scientists and professional endocrine associations during their deliberations.
The criteria on EDCs cannot be called science-based as it contains arbitrary exemptions for chemicals specifically designed to disrupt target insect endocrine systems that have similarities in humans and wildlife. Previously, the Endocrine Society, the European Society for Endocrinology, and the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology released a statement strongly objecting to the addition of loopholes in the criteria as they create frameworks where potentially dangerous chemicals cannot be defined as EDCs by law.
The European Parliament will vote on the criteria in the coming months, and the Endocrine Society encourages the Parliament to gather input from endocrine scientists and professional endocrine associations during their deliberations.
Further details regarding the implementation of the criteria still need to be worked out, and the Endocrine Society calls for transparency on how the contributions from endocrine scientists will be given due consideration in the process by European Food Safety Authority, European Chemicals Agency, and the European Commission.
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