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 childhood can have lasting effects that may not appear until decades later.
Yet EDCs are everywhere in our daily lives, in plastic bottles, toys, cosmetics, cleaning products, and pesticides on our food. It’s impossible to avoid these toxic chemicals. And lax government regulations and industry pushback across the world have made the problem worse for decades.
Citizens have demanded better protection against EDCs, but as of now, there are few legally binding regulations to stop the use of EDCs. Existing regulations, like laws in the EU that regulate pesticides and biocides, don’t cover all of the 1,400 potential EDCs. Plus, these regulations only apply to certain industries: They don’t cover EDCs in cosmetics, toys, textiles, furniture, food packaging, and other products we come into direct contact with every day. At the bare minimum, there aren’t even regulations that require companies to inform consumers about the EDCs in their products.
In 2017, the EU Commission committed to creating a new strategy on EDCs that would cover toys, cosmetics, and food packaging. But past attempts to update the EU’s strategy on EDCs were ultimately derailed by industry lobbying.
That’s why we are joining together with partners to put pressure on the EU to develop a comprehensive strategy to tackle EDCs before the summer of 2018. This plan would implement concrete action to control EDCs on both the industry and citizen level to protect the environment and human health, especially the health of vulnerable groups.
Key strategies to effectively tackle EDCs include:
- Putting public health front and center in the regulation of EDCs;
- Enhancing public awareness of EDCs, so that people know how to reduce exposure to these chemicals, particularly for vulnerable populations like pregnant mothers and children;
- Regulating EDCs across all sectors;
- Promoting a comprehensive approach to EDCs, rather than a chemical-by-chemical approach;
- Relying on the precautionary principle to regulate chemicals that are likely to disrupt the endocrine system, even in the absence of full scientific certainty;
- And preventing the use of toxic substances in products from the start, so that EDCs are not recycled into new materials that lengthen their toxic lifecycle.
The EU’s announcement in January of a new strategy to reduce plastic pollution and the overall shift to a “circular economy” approach highlight why a comprehensive EDC strategy is so essential. Plastics often carry harmful chemicals, so recycling these materials will only worsen their adverse effects on our health and environment. Unless we require greater transparency from companies on what’s in their products and make products clean from the start, it will be even more difficult to ensure that recycled materials are free from these toxins. Ultimately, for the EU to carry out a safe and effective plastics strategy, regulations on EDCs and other chemicals need to be a key part of the effort.
With the many dangers of EDCs, we can’t afford to keep these chemicals around. The EU needs to get serious about regulating EDCs, both for our health and for the planet.
By Madeleine Simon, communications intern
Originally posted May 15, 2018