In 2025, HEAL welcomed several new organisations into its international network of over 70 members committed to advancing health through environmental action. These new members bring valuable expertise in public health, environmental justice, and sustainable policy, further strengthening the capacity of the alliance to help face the challenges from biodiversity loss, pollution and climate change. Learn more about their missions and work below.
On 10 June 2025, HEAL held an international conference dedicated to the impact of chemicals on health in Warsaw. The event brought together over 350 participants from various sectors – science, medicine, public administration, and non-governmental organiszations.
Today, together with members PAN Europe and WECF, HEAL’s Executive Director Génon Jensen participated in the Implementation Dialogue on Biocides hosted by the EU Health Commissioner Várhelyi.
As the European Commission is currently finalising the post-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) proposal set to be launched on 16 July 2025, HEAL has sent a letter to the EU Commission President, the Executive Vice-Presidents, and Commissioners urging to scale up public investments into health protection from pollution and climate change in the next EU budget.
CHEM Trust and HEAL will host a high-level conference on 29 September 2025. The event will bring together policymakers, civil society organisations, industry representatives and experts, to discuss challenges and opportunities of modernising and simplifying the EU’s chemical safety rules and better protect people’s health and the environment.
Today’s publication of the European Commission’s chemicals omnibus confirms serious concerns: if pushed through the proposal will significantly weaken protections in the Cosmetic Products Regulation, allowing the prolonged use of carcinogens and other harmful chemicals in personal care products.
HEAL welcomes the call from 250 scientists urging the European Commission to follow scientific recommendations and include provisions to account for the effects of chemical mixtures to better protect health in the upcoming revision of REACH, the EU’s regulation for chemicals.
HEAL together with representatives from the medical, scientific, and civil society sectors, is calling on policymakers in Poland to develop a national action plan to reduce the health impacts of harmful chemicals and to support the revision of EU regulations. The appeal was presented on 10 June in Warsaw during the International Conference Preventing Disease by Reducing Exposure to Harmful Chemicals, held under the patronage of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU, the Polish Minister of Health, and the President of the Polish Supreme Medical Council.
HEAL has sent a letter to EU environment ministers ahead of an Environment Council meeting on 17 June 2025, calling on them to ensure that the REACH revision will deliver the long-awaited improvement of human health and environment protection from harmful chemicals.
NGOs are calling for the European Commission to take immediate and ambitious action to restrict polyvinyl chloride (PVC) under the REACH Regulation in a letter.
In June 2025 the Health and Environment Alliance is hosting an international conference in Warsaw, Poland, presenting the latest science on health and exposure to chemicals, and an outlook on necessary policy measures. The international conference will take place under the patronage of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU.
The Health and Environment Alliance alongside the NGOs Chemsec, ClientEarth, Ecologistas en Acción and the European Environmental Bureau have provided analysis and recommendations as a response to the European Commission's call for written input in the context of the recent 'Reality Check Workshop' proposal for simplification of the CLP Regulation.
HEAL was honoured to host renowned epidemiologist Dr. Shanna Swan in Brussels in May 2025. She met with different stakeholders to discuss impact of pollution to reproductive health. To specifically assess sperm decline, Dr. Swan has examined hundreds of scientific studies and conducted her own, which all indicate that sperm count is declining globally. This is the case even when controlling for all variables such as genetic and lifestyle factors.
HEAL's Sandra Jen spoke at a recent webinar organised by the Association of European Cancer Leagues (ECL), to discuss the health impacts of PFAS pollution and specifically their link with cancer.
The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) held a ‘Reality Check Workshop’ on the potential simplification of chemicals legislation. The legislations on the table: Cosmetics Products Regulation and the Regulation on Classification, Labelling and Packaging of chemicals (CLP). The presented proposals are very alarming: allowing carcinogenic substances more readily in cosmetics and personal care products and deleting the planned CLP update to make labelling in products more legible for consumers and workers.
HEAL has published its key demands for health-protective upgrades to REACH.
As the revision of EU chemicals legislation REACH is underway, the Health and Environment Alliance urges the European Commission to uphold its commitments on safer chemicals and ensure that ambitious health protections remain at the heart of the project.
The Health and Environment Alliance welcomes the revision of the EU Toy Safety Regulation – with trilogue negotiations reaching an agreement in April 2025. It importantly expands the ban on carcinogenic, mutagenic and toxic-for-reproduction substances to include endocrine disruptors and other hazardous substances.
