As the world’s understanding of the plastics crisis grows, new facets of the problem emerge and reveal impacts on human health and the environment. Recent advances in science are allowing scientists to explore how micro- and nanoplastics form a critical piece of the plastic pollution problem. First thought to be mainly a marine pollution issue, … Read More.
Learn what happened during the latests negotiations on the how to promote chemical safety worldwide.
Starting next week, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) will host the 5th Meeting of the Open-Ended Committee of Permanent Representatives to UNEP (OECPR) and the second session of the 5th UN Environment Assembly, the highest political forum on environmental matters. While much of the buzz surrounding the meetings is about the push for a … Read More.
Back in 2017, we shared some juicy updates on the EU’s newly proposed criteria to identify endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). But what has happened since then? Spoiler alert: The Commission is (still) as slow as molasses, and the chemical lobby can gloat as essential public health protections continue to be delayed. Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals: A Refresher Endocrine-disrupting … Read More.
From March 11th to 15th, Ministers of the Environment from 193 countries will gather in Nairobi, Kenya, for the fourth meeting of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) with the potential to propel our society into a new era of sustainability. UNEA, the official governing body of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the highest-level … Read More.
This blog post was originally posted by the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. There is a global health crisis hiding in plain sight. It’s being transported along our roadways and released into our skies. It surrounds us in our homes and offices. It plagues our oceans, our waterways, and our soil. It’s even in the food we … Read More.
Videos of plastic waves hitting pristine waters in Southeast Asia and the Caribbean shocked the world. Those images soon became viral, making us wonder: How did plastic end up there? How can we stop this? Of course, plastics don’t just “end up” on developing countries’ shores. It all starts with fossil fuels being extracted and … Read More.
You may not know about endocrine disruptors, but chances are they’re in your body. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) interfere with the body’s hormonal system and are linked to developmental, reproductive, neurological, and immune effects in both humans and animals. EDCs are most toxic at our most vulnerable: Exposure to these chemicals in the womb or during … Read More.
From water bottles to smartphones, tens of thousands of chemicals are used around the world to make billions of products. Some of these chemicals are harmless. Others, however, carry toxic properties, affecting the development of children at their most vulnerable stages, damaging the environment, and building up in our bodies over time, compounding their already … Read More.
Our oceans, river systems, marine animals, and health are being threatened by a pollutant that’s all around us, yet sometimes invisible to the eye: plastics. Whether it’s an empty bag of chips floating in a nearby stream or microplastics ingested by both humans and marine animals, plastics have become a ubiquitous and destructive commodity. As … Read More.
Sales receipts, food containers, beverage cans, and plastic water bottles: you have probably used one of these objects in the last few days. What do they have in common? They are very useful and it is difficult to avoid them. What else? Many contain bisphenols. Bisphenols are a family of synthetic organic compounds used to … Read More.
Around 25.8 million tons of plastic waste are generated in Europe every year, of which less than 30 percent is collected for recycling. Of this amount, a significant share leaves the EU to be treated in other countries, where different environmental standards may apply. From the EU alone, 150,000 to 500,000 tons of plastic waste … Read More.
This article originally appeared on EUObserver. The EU and Canada will begin provisionally applying the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (Ceta) on 21 September 2017. The EU’s obligation for data protection under this agreement is in conflict with EU law on public access to information, particularly in relation to pesticides. Therefore, the EU will soon be … Read More.
On a sleepless night scrolling through my Facebook posts, one mesmerizing image caught my attention. It said: [“It’s pretty amazing that our society has reached a point where the effort necessary to extract oil from the ground, ship it to a refinery, turn it into plastic, shape it appropriately, truck it to a store, buy … Read More.
Since June 2016, the EU has discussed several draft proposals for scientific criteria to identify endocrine disruptors (EDCs). On July 4th, representatives of Member States agreed upon the criteria for pesticides. These criteria are far from what would be needed to actually identify, and eventually get rid of, all EDCs, but nothing is set in … Read More.
On Earth Day – April 22, 2017 – in Washington, DC (and in satellite marches in 600+ cities across the globe) thousands of people will come together in a show of force in the March for Science. We march to show our support for the research, analysis, and methods that seek to solve the most … Read More.
Recipe for hormone system disruption: Step one – manipulate science and bake regulations for 2.5 years In a recent article in Le Monde, almost a hundred scientists denounced industry’s manipulation of science related to climate change and endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). The scientists fear that the European Commission’s scientific criteria to identify EDCs ignore the scientific … Read More.
Flemish Member of the European Parliament recommends rejecting the EU-Canada trade and investment deal on health and environmental grounds After the Walloon hero Paul Magnette nearly stopped the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) in October of last year, another Belgian politician has taken up his mantle — this time within the European Parliament … Read More.
Reflections by a Venetian on why governments don’t do their best to protect people’s health from chemical pollution. I was born in the beautiful north-Italian region Veneto — the same region where Verona is located, the city of Romeo and Juliet. This spring, though, a toxic pollution scandal shattered into pieces my romantic memories of … Read More.
On June 15th, the European Commission presented drafts of two legal acts (for Plant Protection Products and Biocidal Products Regulations) to set criteria for the identification of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). While it has the potential to successfully define endocrine disruptors in order to better protect people and the environment from these chemicals, which have … Read More.
Why hazardous pesticides must be phased out Pesticides are designed to kill. And they do. They are used to reduce and kill weeds, insects, rats, and other pests. However, pesticides aren’t nimble killers that eliminate their desired targets and vanish. In truth, pesticides can have a lot of collateral damage – killing bees, bats, amphibians, … Read More.
Your energy and advocacy sparked a global momentum shift over the past year, and we are on the cusp of true, transformative change. On all fronts, you have defended your right to a healthy planet. With your support, you help CIEL… Advance Climate Justice For three years, we’ve highlighted the growing legal and financial risks … Read More.
Hundreds delegates from governments, international organizations, public interest NGOs, and the chemical and pesticide industry just returned from a week-long conference in Geneva. The hot topic? Our health and environment over the next 15 years. Chemicals are in our food, clothes, and children’s toys, in household dusts and on our work floors, in our rivers … Read More.
US States’ ability to protect public health and the environment is under attack on two fronts – at home and abroad, but with the same enemy orchestrating the attack: the chemical industry. On the home front, the chemical lobby is aggressively pushing the reform of the outdated and ineffective US federal legislation on chemicals, the … Read More.
On July 8, 2015, the European Parliament (EP) passed a resolution calling for REACH and other chemical laws to be excluded from the scope of the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The European Parliament calls on the EU Commission “to recognise that where the EU and the US have very different rules, there … Read More.
From May 1st to May 15th, parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions met in Geneva to advance the global management of chemicals. Each of these conventions deals with a distinct aspect of chemical management. Generally speaking: The Basel Convention addresses the question of transboundary movements of waste to ensure that no waste is … Read More.
Trade secrets: the fuzzy line between freedom of information and intellectual property rights In late November 2013, the European Commission released its proposed directive on the “protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) against their unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure” with the objective of reinforcing the protection of so-called trade secrets. This proposal … Read More.
As awareness continues to grow about the impacts of business on people and the environment around the world, companies and trade organizations resort to the old argument that stricter environmental regulations would stymie the economy. Truth be told, studies show that this argument is simply not the case. In an effort to refrain from … Read More.
US-EU trade agreement threatens to reduce environmental standards in favor of looser pesticide regulations Industry lobbyists are pushing proposals to weaken pesticide regulations in the EU and US under the proposed Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) Agreement. The ongoing TTIP negotiations between the EU and the US aims primarily to minimize regulatory differences between … Read More.
EU Commission terminates Chief Scientific Advisor position after pressure from CIEL and partners By David Azoulay and Lainey Sidell Science is a critical tool for policy making, in particular on issues relating to human health and the environment. In some cases, science can give very definite answers; in others, there is uncertainty. Recognizing the wider … Read More.
By Baskut Tuncak and Vito Buonsante Two weeks ago, at the start of the fourth round of “trade” negotiations between the EU and the US (officially the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement, or TTIP), the Center for International Environmental Law and ClientEarth issued a detailed critique of a document submitted to TTIP negotiators by … Read More.
**This blog post is the second in a series discussing the chilling effects TTIP will likely have on laws to better protect people and the environment from toxic chemicals in both the United States and European Union. The Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is not a conventional trade agreement. TTIP is, at its heart, … Read More.
A new article in The Huffington Post starts with the question, “Whatever happened to innovation in America?” and concludes by hinting that American innovation is not what it once was. According to studies cited by the authors, the United States is second to last in terms of progress over the past decade. So, who are … Read More.
On June 13th 2013, the Environment and Economy subcommittee in the US House of Representatives held a hearing to discuss the 1976 U.S. Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The House hearing was motivated by a recent bi-partisan bill in the Senate by Senator Vitter (R-LA) and the late Senator Lautenber (D-NJ). Deeply flawed and under … Read More.
What are the drivers of innovation? This was the question behind new research CIEL released this week, which clearly illustrates that stronger laws to regulate chemicals are a driver of innovation, and also create a safer marketplace. Forbes broke the story on Wednesday and the report has received attention from policymakers, industry leaders and environmental … Read More.
And now for some good news. Today, France adopted a ban on certain uses of two widely used hormone disrupting chemicals: Bisphenol A (BPA), and the plasticizer di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, or DEHP for short. Both BPA and DEHP are primarily used to make plastics—polycarbonate and PVC, respectively. Millions of tons of each chemical are produced and … Read More.
(This article originally appeared Oct. 11, 2012 at blog.saferchemicals.org) Recently, the global community kicked it up a notch by issuing a simple statement on hormone disrupting chemicals during negotiations on a process intended to achieve the sound management of chemicals globally by 2020 (called “SAICM”). Despite seeming like an innocuous statement, it lays the groundwork to … Read More.
Next week, negotiators from over 150 countries and other stakeholders will convene in Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss the future of global chemicals management. These critical negotiations come at decisive juncture for the Strategic Approach to Chemicals Management (SAICM), with only eight years left on its ambitious mandate to ensure sound chemicals management—eight years in which … Read More.
For the first time in 36 years, the U.S. Congress took a significant step towards fixing the ineffective law that primarily governs the use of toxic chemicals in America’s workplaces, homes, schools, and almost every other facet of our everyday lives. This is a monumental step, not just for the U.S., but for public health … Read More.
Over the past two decades, the urgent need for global action on endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) has become undeniable. A little-known global agreement—SAICM—might provide the best opportunity for global action to prevent further health and environmental harm from EDCs.