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.
People in the EU have made unprecedented calls for change throughout 2019, demanding climate action, environmental protection, improved animal welfare and social justice. Food systems are pushing us across ‘planetary boundaries’, driving diet-related diseases and failing to deliver decent livelihoods in the EU and beyond: they are therefore at the heart of the change that citizens are demanding.
EU policies, and in particular the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), have so far failed to drive a transition towards sustainable food systems. We therefore welcome the upcoming ‘Farm to Fork’ (F2F) Strategy, which represents a crucial opportunity to provide a coherent response to societal concerns about biodiversity, climate change, health, income of all workers in the food chain, social equity and animal welfare, amongst others.
We are concerned, however, that the European Green Deal does not reflect the urgent, systemic changes needed in our food system, nor contains concrete commitments to drive a fundamental transition.
Read our letter to European Commission Vice-President Timmermans.