WRITTEN QUESTION E-1075/02

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(18 April 2002)

Subject: Increase in malformations in babies as a result of drinking water from rivers contaminated with the female hormone oestrogen

1. Is the Commission aware that Europe's main rivers are becoming increasingly polluted with the female hormone oestrogen, as a result of urine from women taking the contraceptive pill entering the sewers, and that the use of drinking water taken from such rivers is causing an increase in the number of babies with malformations. These malformations may take the form of harelip, penile abnormality (hypospadias), gastroschis or spina bifida. Is the Commission also aware that in many river estuaries half the male fish have changed sex?

2. Which areas of the EU are vulnerable to this problem because their drinking water or a large proportion of it comes from treated river water? Is this risk particularly high for ports located on river estuaries, such as Rotterdam, Antwerp, Bremen, Hamburg, Bristol, London, Hull, Le Havre, Bordeaux, Porto, Cadiz, Marseilles, Venice and Thessaloniki?

3. What methods are now available for purifying water contaminated with oestrogen or for switching to other sources of drinking water? What further developments in this area does the Commission expect over the next ten years?

4. Is systematic research being carried out into this problem in areas of the EU other than the United Kingdom and Flanders?

5. Is the Commission prepared to encourage further research and coordination with other data in order to map the consequences throughout the EU?

6. In what other ways does the Commission envisage helping to protect the population against the effects of drinking water polluted with oestrogen?

Source: Flemish newspaper Het Nieuwsblad of 19 March 2002.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(18 June 2002)

1. The Commission is aware of the problem of pollution of rivers by endocrine disrupting chemicals, which include both industrial chemicals and natural/synthetic hormones such as the female hormone oestrogen. In March 1999, the Commission Scientific Committee on Toxicity, Ecotoxicity and the Environment (SCTEE) concluded that there are associations between these chemicals and human health disturbances, such as cryptochidism and hypospadia, but that no causative role has been determined. Regarding reproductive effects in fish, the Committee found evidence of disorders such as imposex(1) mainly in the UK and Sweden, associated with sewage effluents, natural and synthetic oestrogenic hormones as well as industrial chemicals. In December 1999, the Commission adopted a Community Strategy for Endocrine Disrupters(2). The strategy addresses the key requirements of further research; international co-operation; communication to the public; and appropriate policy action. Recommendations are made for short-, medium- and long-term actions, such as the identification of substances, the establishment of monitoring programmes, further research and the development of agreed test methods.

2. The production of drinking water from surface water varies between Member States (indicative from 1 % of the total production in Denmark to approximately 60 % in Spain). As a result, the vulnerability to the occurrence of oestrogenic substances in river water used for the production of drinking water would subsequently be higher in Member States that use a high percentage of surface water. However, this does not imply that oestrogenic substances occur in these raw water sources. The Commission is not aware of the occurrence, and thus the risk, being higher in the delta area of rivers. Also it is not common practice, if done at all, to abstract river water in harbour areas for the production of drinking water.

3. Some scientific information is available on the efficiency of treatment processes in the production of drinking water to remove oestrogenic substances. Especially oxidative processes, activated carbon filtration and membrane filtration processes are reported to be successful in the removal of oestrogens. If the occurrence of oestrogens in raw water for the production of drinking water proves to be an issue, treatment processes will be adapted and extended to guarantee that the quality of water intended for human consumption complies with the Directive 98/83/EC(3).

4. Other than UK and B, the Commission is aware of national research and monitoring programmes underway in DK, D, NL, S, SF, and F. These programmes are designed to investigate, inter-alia, the endocrine disrupting effects on fish in rivers from sewage effluent, in particular the effects of oestrogenic activity, as well as human-health related effects. The Commission, under the Community Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (RTD) is also supporting a number of European research projects on endocrine disruption addressing, inter-alia, urogenital malformations in babies, effects of effluent on fish as well as assessment of technologies for removal of endocrine disrupting chemicals from sewage and drinking water.

5. The Community strategy for endocrine disrupters identifies research as a key requirement to better understand the phenomenon of endocrine disruption. Endocrine disruption was identified as a research priority since 1996 within the Fourth Community Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development with a total funding of EUR 13,5 million. Under the Fifth Framework Programme (1999-2002), namely in the Quality of Life (QoL) and Environment and Sustainable Development (ESD) Programmes, endocrine disruption was highlighted as an important research topic and to date, circa EUR 10 million of Community funding has been spent and 6 newly accepted projects with a total budget in excess of EUR 10 million are under negotiation. In addition, a joint QoL and ESD dedicated call on human and environmental implications of endocrine disrupters was launched with additional budget of EUR 20 million. As a result of the call four multidisciplinary projects are supported. These projects investigate a wide range of issues related to endocrine disruption, such as the effects of complex mixtures of endocrine disrupting chemicals in human and fish tissues. Furthermore, these projects will form a cluster aimed at providing a focus for endocrine disruptive research in Europe, with activities such as workshops, coordination of databases and dissemination of results. (http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/press/2002/pr1505en.html).

6. Apart from the ways highlighted in the Strategy for Endocrine Disrupters, the Commission wants to recall that the existing water legislation (Drinking Water Directive 98/83/EC(6), Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC(4) and the list of priority substances Decision 2455/2001/EC(5)) are aiming at protecting the water for the production of drinking water. In particular, for Directive 98/83/EC, a study on Endocrine Disrupters in drinking water is under way; the subject and scope of this study is among others to identify those individual endocrine disrupters or groups of endrocrine disrupters that might be appropriate for future regulation in drinking water.

(1) Impositin of male characteristics in female animals.

(2) COM(1999) 706.

(3) Council Directive 98/83/EC of 3 November 1998 on the quality of water intended for human consumption, OJ L 330, 5.12.1998, p. 32.

(4) Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy, OJ L 327, 22.12.2000.

(5) Decision No 2455/2001/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 November 2001 establishing the list of priority substances in the field of water policy and amending Directive 2000/60/EC, OJ L 331, 15.12.2001.

(6) Council Directive 98/83/EC of 3 November 1998 on the quality of water intended for human consumption, OJ L 330, 5.12.1998, p. 32.