HEAL has sent a letter to permanent representations of EU member states and EU environment ministers today, calling on their support and leadership to ensure that previous commitments made for a high level of health and environment protection will remain at the heart of the 2024-2029 EU Commission mandate, including delivering on the health protective measures promised in the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability (CSS) and the revision of REACH with no further delay.
A new commentary published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology shows how three global health threats – chemical pollution (including endocrine disrupting chemicals), loss of biodiversity and climate change – are more strongly interlinked than previously thought by their common origins in fossil fuels such as coal, oil, or gas, including that derived from fracking [1].
Author Professor Barbara Demeneix, biologist and endocrinologist at the Muséum National d’Histoire in Paris, argues policymakers and the general public need to better appreciate the links of each of these treats to human health, all intertwined by their origin. She notes that not only can these three threats be averted, but also by reducing our dependence on fossil fuel usage overall we can simultaneously mitigate and eventually reverse the current climate crisis, reduce pollution and improve our own health and that of the environment.
The commentary comes at a time during which the current COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a reduced oil demand. The author argues that the oil and gas industry could attempt to restore profitability by increasing production of plastics and fertilizers, which are made from petrochemicals.
Génon K. Jensen, Executive Director at the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) said: “Professor Demeneix shows just how outdated and harmful the continued use of fossil fuel-based energy and products is – we need a decisive phase-out for our health and planetary health. This gives governments and institutions yet another good reason to set Europe on a path to a healthy, green and just recovery, along the principles of the EU Green Deal.”