WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2475/97 by Hiltrud BREYER to the Commission. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals
Date: 1997-07-16
Institutions: BREYER, European Parliament
Subjects: chemical product, consumer protection, dangerous substance, health control, health risk, plastics, product safety, public health, safety standard, toy industry

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 industry(cid:146)s 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  Parliament(cid:146)s  March  1997  part-session (1),  and  H-423/97  by
Mr  Pimenta  during  question  time  at  Parliament(cid:146)s  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.