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.
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.
The newly released European State of the Climate 2024 annual report (ESOTC), co-published by the European Union’s Copernicus Earth observation program and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), confirms what public health experts have long warned about: the health costs of climate change in Europe are rising fast, and so is the human toll.
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.
Hormone-disrupting chemicals found in personal care products and plastics harm children's health, new research from the EU-funded ATHLETE project finds. The exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals and the health effects on over 370 children in France were studied. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals, such as parabens and phthalates, were linked to poorer child overall health. It suggests that they could contribute to the development of multiple chronic diseases related to cardiometabolic, respiratory and neurodevelopmental health.
A new policy brief, co-published by HEAL and the Independent Health Insurance Funds (Mutualités Libres), shows that the Belgian LEZs in Brussels and Antwerp have led to tangible air quality improvements in a period of only five years. Concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution was reduced by 30% in Antwerp and 37% in Brussels.
HEAL's Deputy Director, Strategic Lead Anne Stauffer will attend tomorrow's High-Level Meeting on the upcoming Chemicals Industry Package, on invitation by European Commissioners Séjourné and Rosvall.
In the coming months, EU institutions will negotiate the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). The MFF is the EU’s long-term budget, usually covering a seven-year period. It details the public spending for different areas of EU policies, including environment and climate action.
Against the backdrop of an ever-growing body of evidence on the health impacts and cost of people's exposure to pollution, HEAL is concerned that the Clean Industrial Deal misses the opportunity to set the EU on the path for swift and significant pollution reduction and disease prevention. To work for people in the EU and their health, the Clean Industrial Deal needs to be a zero pollution deal, with three principles at its core.
To address growing concern about harmful chemicals in Poland and to raise awareness about the impacts of chemicals on health in Poland, HEAL in November 2024 has started publishing materials and articles on the matter and engage the Polish health sector.
