The European Union is about to give big multinationals such as Monsanto and Bayer a permit to poison our health by selling toxic products that are invading our everyday life.

On 4 July, some EU countries like France and Germany gave in to the pressure of lobbying groups by accepting the very week European Commission legislative proposal on endocrine disrupting chemicals (also known as EDCs), which will do little to protect us from toxic substances that particularly threaten children and pregnant women.

By surrendering to this pressure, these EU countries enabled the European Commission to push this dangerous proposal through. Now these new rules could become reality all across Europe!

But there’s still hope!

The European Commission text has to be approved by the European Parliament. The decisive vote will take place in the European Parliament on 3 October and we can still win the battle to protect ourselves from the numerous diseases provoked by endocrine disruptors.

Some 500,000 SumOfUs members and supporters of the EDC-Free Europe coalition have already signed our petition to urge the European Commission to take stronger measures on EDCs. Help us reach half a million again in order to remind Members of the European Parliament that their mandate is not to represent the agrochemical lobby of Bayer and Monsanto, but to represent citizens like me and you!

Members of the European Parliament: block the European Commission’s weak definition on endocrine disruptors!

Endocrine disruptors include notorious substances such as bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates. They can be found in numerous plastics, cosmetics and pesticides, and are associated with cancer, infertility, malformations and obesity. A conservative estimate found that the current burden on public health budgets from the diseases arising from exposure to EDCs in the European Union is at least 163 billion Euro per year.

However, the text proposed by the European Commission requires a level of proof that is way too high for a substance to be banned and, last but not least, it also foresees important derogations. For instance, it is limited to the identification of endocrine disruptors in pesticides and biocides, while those toxic substances can be found everywhere in our environment – from our cosmetics to the packages of our food, or the medical devices used in hospitals.

We are not the only ones that are concerned: on 11 July, three scientific societies of endocrinology signed a letter to denounce the proposed criteria and their discrepancies with the identification system for carcinogens.

An intense battle is currently taking place in Brussels. The agrichemical industry unleashed an army of lobbyists to defend their profits. Unless we mobilise massively by calling on our Members of the European Parliament, these lobby groups will win this battle.

Tell our MEPs to prioritise citizens’ voices rather than lobby interests and to protect us all from the real dangers that endocrine disruptors represent.

SumofUs and EDC-Free Europe coalition members have already achieved major victories in the fight against toxic products in Europe. It is thanks to our collective mobilisation that the renewal of toxic pesticides like glyphosate keeps being postponed.

It is now time to remind MEPs that we expect them to prioritise our health above the profits of multinational companies.

Members of the European Parliament: block the European Commission’s weak definition on endocrine disruptors!

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