WRITTEN QUESTION E-0869/02 by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Pesticides in ground water.
Date: 2002-04-03
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Sweden, chemical product, environmental standard, groundwater, public health, water protection

C 205 E/230

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

29.8.2002

(2002/C 205 E/251)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0869/02

by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(3 April 2002)

Subject: Pesticides in ground water

Greenpeace in Sweden reported on 22 February 2002 that the Swedish National Chemicals Inspectorate
had written a letter to the Commission in which it retreats from the principle that pesticides should not be
allowed to leak into ground water. For over ten years, Sweden has argued that pesticides constitute an
unacceptable risk if they reach ground water. However, according to the Inspectorate’s letter to the
Commission, Sweden is now prepared to accept EU guidelines which allow degradation products in
ground water. It is accepted that substances believed to be harmless reach ground water. History shows,
however, that it is difficult to predict which substances are dangerous.

Can the Commission confirm that the Swedish National Chemicals Inspectorate has changed its standpoint
and does the Commission consider that it is possible, with 100 % certainty, to establish that certain
substances are harmless if they reach ground water?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(15 May 2002)

The Commission cannot
the
Commission is not aware of any change in the position of the Inspectorate of the nature suggested by
the Honourable member.

the Swedish National Chemicals

Inspectorate. However,

speak for

The Commission considers that it is possible, on the basis of state of the art scientific assessments, to
identify levels of exposure to individual substances, which pose no unacceptable risk to consumers. This is
reflected in many areas of Community legislation including the Drinking Water Directive,
(Council
Directive 75/440/EEC of 16 June 1975 concerning the quality required of surface water intended for the
abstraction of drinking water in the Member States (1)), which sets maximum concentration limits for many
compounds including copper, which is a pesticidal active substance and certain classes of chlorinated
hydrocarbons, which do also occur as degradation products of pesticides.

(1) OJ L 194, 25.7.1975.

(2002/C 205 E/252)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0871/02

by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(3 April 2002)

Subject: Cyclamate : a health hazard?

Cyclamate is a sweetener which the Swedish Food Administration claims can cause some people to
produce a substance (CHA), which in large doses in animal experiments affected the testicles. The earlier
Swedish ban on cyclamate (E 952) as a sweetener in food was lifted in 1999. In Sweden, cyclamate has
been available only in tablet or powder form whereas, in the EU, it is permitted in a number of low-calorie
products such as soft drinks, cakes, ice-cream, deserts and tinned fruit. The Swedish Government instructed
the Food Administration to make a study of cyclamate, the results of which show that children with
diabetes have in some cases already ingested too much cyclamate. If it is now also to be used as a
sweetener in fruit juices and soft drinks, there is a risk that substantially increased number of diabetics will
exceed the acceptable daily intake.

Does the Commission rate the sweetener cyclamate as a health hazard and is a ban on cyclamate in the
Community a possibility?