HEAL Director Génon K. Jensen writes for EUobserver on the importance to reflect the heavy toll climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution are taking on health in the EU Strategic Agenda 2024-2029 .
HEAL Programme Lead Health and Chemicals Sandra Jen writes for Social Europe: Toys are among the top products in the European Union reported for health-and-safety risks. They account for 23 per cent of all alerts for dangerous consumer products in the EU’s rapid-alert system. The position recently adopted by the Council of the EU on revision of the legislation on toy safety is thus concerning, notably in failing to support a bans on PFAS and bisphenols.
Titanium dioxide (TiO2), often used for its whitening capacity and found in daily products such as sunscreens and cosmetics, is suspected of causing cancer. But the hazard classification of the substance as a suspected carcinogen has been a long and winding road, with the scientific and political battle culminating in a legal row at the European Union’s highest court—to the detriment of citizens and workers - Natacha Cingotti writes for Social Europe.
Alors qu’une consultation publique visant à restreindre l’usage des « polluants éternels » a été lancée le 22 mars, des mutuelles et des organisations spécialisées en santé environnementale rappellent, dans une tribune au « Le Monde », l’urgence d’une actualisation ambitieuse du règlement européen sur les substances chimiques.
The increasing reliance on lithium compounds in critical sectors should be reason enough for European authorities to support a thorough investigation of their properties. They also demand a speedy agreement on how to communicate about them to workers and end-users. But instead, a scientifically-backed proposal to classify three lithium salts for their toxicity to reproduction under Europe’s harmonised hazard identification system is at a dead end.
Taking on the plastics challenge in a way that puts health and the environment first to deliver on Europe’s Zero Pollution ambition requires upgrading European regulations on chemicals and articles in which they are used, encompassing the entire lifecycle of plastics.
Recent revelations on major disagreements within the European Commission about the development of the European Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability suggest that representatives of the Department General for Internal Market (DG GROW) seek to fundamentally tone down the proposals, under the pretence of economic interests and overruling preventive actions on chemicals and public health, writes Natacha Cingotti in EUObserver.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has committed to address endocrine disruptors as part of “a cross-cutting strategy to protect citizens’ health from environmental degradation and pollution” to reach “a zero-pollution ambition”. If Europe is serious about delivering on its promises and regulating based on science, then the current evaluation of the EDC framework is a real opportunity for health, environment and our economy, writes Natacha Cingotti in the ECHA Guest Corner.
It’s encouraging to see that plastic pollution in oceans and environment has become quite a talked about topic. But an issue that is often overlooked is the toxic chemicals that can be found in plastic, and how they harm our health, writes HEAL's Executive Director Genon K. Jensen.
HEAL is excited to be an official stakeholder to HBM4EU, the European Human Biomonitoring Initiative. HBM4EU is a joint effort of 28 countries, the European Environment Agency and the European…
