WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2475/97 by Hiltrud BREYER to the Commission. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals
C 158/8 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 25. 5. 98 (98/C 158/11) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2475/97 by Hiltrud Breyer (V) to the Commission (16 July 1997) Subject: Endocrine-disrupting chemicals 1. What action does the Commission intend to take, in conjunction with the toy industry, following the withdrawal from the market of PVC plastic baby toys in Denmark, Italy and Spain after evidence from the Danish Environmental Protection Agency of dangers to babies from the leaking of plastics into their mouths when sucking on these products? 2. Will the Commission participate in the international working group set up by the toy industry to investigate this problem and will it ensure it is informed of the results of their investigations? 3. Has the Commission already discussed with industry the options for working towards the substitution of known endocrine-disrupting chemicals in their products with benign substances? If not, when will it do so and would it make Community funds available for this? Does the Commission agree that industry should take responsible care for its products and respond 4. promptly to concerns over potential dangers for end-users? 5. Does the Commission condone the categorical statements by certain industry associations that plasticisers such as phthalate and bisphenol A are not hormone-disrupting chemicals, despite growing scientific evidence that these products do have hormone-disrupting effects? 6. The chemical industry has responded to independent scientific concerns over hormone-disrupting chemicals by commissioning its own research into the suspected products. Does the Commission see all the results of research undertaken by industry into suspected endocrine-disrupting chemicals and will it make these available to MEPs? Is the Commission concerned by the possible withholding of research, funded by industry, which produces 7. results contrary to industryís interests? Joint answer to Written Questions E-2474/97 and E-2475/97 given by Mr Bangemann on behalf of the Commission (5 November 1997) The Commission is well aware of the issue referred to as endocrine disruption (see answers to oral questions H-114/97 by Mr Spencer during question time at Parliamentís March 1997 part-session (1), and H-423/97 by Mr Pimenta during question time at Parliamentís June 1997 part-session (2)). Last January, the Commission mandated the European committee for standardisation (CEN) to create a working group under technical committee 52 (toys) dealing specifically with organic chemical compounds in toys, including a detailed assessment of the consequences of the use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in toys, in compliance with Article 2. 1 and Annex III, point II. 3 of Directive 88/378/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States concerning the safety of toys (3). The findings of the working party will be included in the European toy safety standard EN 71. Both the Commission and the toy industry, along with European consumer organisations and national standardisation bodies, will be involved in the working group. The Commission works in close contact with the toy industry and will be informed of all the results of the investigations of the International council of toy industries (ICTI) working group on this subject. The Commission supports several projects on screening tests for the detection of substances with endocrine disrupting properties. A number of shared-cost action research projects on endocrine-disrupting chemicals are supported by the Commission in the Environment and Climate and in the Biomed II research programmes. These programmes were selected following open calls for proposals and independent scientific evaluation. Where there is industrial participation the Commission supports up to 50% of the costs of the research. Wide dissemination of the results of the research is considered to be an important aspect of the projects