Britain sabotages EU law to control toxic chemicals --or should we say Bush

[Guest guest]

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1996334.ece

Everytime there is a little hope that our products will eventually be

safe, Bush steps in and destroys our hope. Delp

from The Independent & The Independent on Sunday

19 November 2006 15:22 Home > News > Environment

Britain sabotages EU law to control toxic chemicals

By Geoffrey Lean

Published: 19 November 2006

Ministers are sabotaging laws to control toxic chemicals despite

fears that they are causing a " silent epidemic " of brain disorders in

British children, a leaked document shows.

The document reveals how, after pressure from the Bush

administration, the Government has successfully led opposition to a

Europe-wide measure that would make companies use safe chemicals when

they work just as well as poisonous ones. It sets out a British

proposal to emasculate the law that was accepted last year by all

European Union governments.

The law is the first attempt to regulate more than 100,000 chemicals

in use in Europe. There is little or no safety information on 85 per

cent of the ones in common use: the Registration, Evaluation and

Authorisation of Chemicals (Reach) directive aims to get companies to

carry out safety tests on chemicals - and to control the most

dangerous ones.

This month, top Danish and American researchers warned that the

chemicals could be behind " a silent epidemic " of brain disorders. In

a report published by The Lancet they identified 202 chemicals known

to poison the brain, saying they were likely to be " the tip of a very

large iceberg " .

They pointed out that one in six British children suffers from some

kind of development disability, including autism, attention deficit

disorder, mental retardation and cerebral palsy.

Last month, Dr s Kortenkamp, head of the Centre of Toxicology

at the University of London's School of Pharmacy, concluded that

routine exposure to " gender-bender " chemicals, used in many everyday

products, could be one of the causes of a big increase in breast

cancer over the past three decades.

In September, research by WWF-UK (formerly the World Wildlife Fund)

found hazardous chemicals to be widespread in food on supermarket

shelves.

Britain originally supported Reach, but after lobbying by the Bush

administration - which fears it will damage US exports - it switched

to denouncing it as " dangerously wrong " .

The European Parliament still wants a tough Bill, and Labour, Liberal

Democrat and Conservative MEPs all support the compulsory use of safe

chemicals rather than dangerous ones when they will do the job just

as well.

But Britain has persuaded Europe's governments to resist the measure.

If no deal is reached, the entire directive is likely to be abandoned.

King, WWF-UK's director of campaigns, said last night: " The

Government has made an appallingly short-sighted policy decision,

which will be seen in the same light as the defence of the tobacco

industry in the 1960s and 1970s. "

Ministers are sabotaging laws to control toxic chemicals despite

fears that they are causing a " silent epidemic " of brain disorders in

British children, a leaked document shows.

The document reveals how, after pressure from the Bush

administration, the Government has successfully led opposition to a

Europe-wide measure that would make companies use safe chemicals when

they work just as well as poisonous ones. It sets out a British

proposal to emasculate the law that was accepted last year by all

European Union governments.

The law is the first attempt to regulate more than 100,000 chemicals

in use in Europe. There is little or no safety information on 85 per

cent of the ones in common use: the Registration, Evaluation and

Authorisation of Chemicals (Reach) directive aims to get companies to

carry out safety tests on chemicals - and to control the most

dangerous ones.

This month, top Danish and American researchers warned that the

chemicals could be behind " a silent epidemic " of brain disorders. In

a report published by The Lancet they identified 202 chemicals known

to poison the brain, saying they were likely to be " the tip of a very

large iceberg " .

They pointed out that one in six British children suffers from some

kind of development disability, including autism, attention deficit

disorder, mental retardation and cerebral palsy.

Last month, Dr s Kortenkamp, head of the Centre of Toxicology

at the University of London's School of Pharmacy, concluded that

routine exposure to " gender-bender " chemicals, used in many everyday

products, could be one of the causes of a big increase in breast

cancer over the past three decades.

In September, research by WWF-UK (formerly the World Wildlife Fund)

found hazardous chemicals to be widespread in food on supermarket

shelves.

Britain originally supported Reach, but after lobbying by the Bush

administration - which fears it will damage US exports - it switched

to denouncing it as " dangerously wrong " .

The European Parliament still wants a tough Bill, and Labour, Liberal

Democrat and Conservative MEPs all support the compulsory use of safe

chemicals rather than dangerous ones when they will do the job just

as well.

But Britain has persuaded Europe's governments to resist the measure.

If no deal is reached, the entire directive is likely to be abandoned.

King, WWF-UK's director of campaigns, said last night: " The

Government has made an appallingly short-sighted policy decision,

which will be seen in the same light as the defence of the tobacco

industry in the 1960s and 1970s. "