The European Environment Office warned on Monday that the European Commission took too long to ban certain products with dangerous chemicals, and that the delay probably caused cancer and infertility in several people.
According to the conclusions of an investigation carried out by the Office of the European Ombudsman, announced this Monday and cited in the statement from the European Environment Office, European authorities “broke the law by delaying the ban of dangerous chemicals for the last two decades”.
“HE “The European Commission takes an average of 14.5 months to decide whether or not to allow companies to continue using banned chemicals, almost five times longer than the legal limit.”the office warned, in the statement citing the conclusions of the Ombudsman’s investigation.
“This constitutes poor administration” on the part of the community executive, he concluded.
The delay, continued the European Environment Office, “allows companies to continue using substances legally that the European Union’s scientific advisors discovered which increased the risk of cancerthey had consequences on fertility and other serious problems.”
“This figure may have been inflated to thousands of tons per year across a wide variety of products,” which remain “a uncontrolled threat to health“.
Cited in the statement, Hélène Duguy, researcher at the non-governmental organization ClientEarth, considered that the European Commission “was incompatible with chemical regulations” and so? “it is unacceptable” the behavior of the community executive that “It damages the rule of law and citizens’ trust in European institutions”.
A spokesperson for the European Commission stated this Monday that it “took note” of the Ombudsman’s conclusions and that the Commission “is committed to protecting the environment and human health”, recalling that the EU has chemical legislation that is “more complex” of the world. ”, recognizing that there are some difficulties.
“We are willing to look at how our procedures can be improved to make them more effective,” the spokesperson continued.
Source: Observadora
