Towards a non-toxic environment: NGO chemical policy asks of the European Commission

Published: 8 November 2019
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In recent years, the European Commission has advanced on outlining the future of the EU chemicals policy, so called the EU chemicals policy 2030, by developing a number of comprehensive studies and communications such as the Non-toxic Environment Strategy, the different chemicals policies REFITs and the interface between chemicals, products and waste legislations communication. These studies collected a considerable amount of knowledge on the remaining gaps in EU law that undermine the protection of people, wildlife and ecosystems against harmful chemicals.

More recently, president-elect Ursula von der Leyen has committed in her political guidelines to propose a European Green Deal. A coherent approach to the production and use of chemicals is critical to several parts of the Green Deal, in particular the Zero-Pollution Strategy, the Biodiversity Strategy, the “Farm to Fork Strategy” and the New Circular Economy Action Plan.

We welcome this commitment. Chemical pollution deserves a long-term vision and concrete action plan with ambitious timelines to effectively and urgently reduce the exposure of people and environment to toxic chemicals. The European Green Deal is the ideal opportunity to set coherent and ambitious long-term targets, and has to be the first steps of a series of concrete actions.

In this paper, the main health and environmental NGOs working on chemicals highlight the chemical policy and regulatory actions that the new Commission needs to take in order to achieve the Non-toxic Environment, zero-pollution and clean circular economy goals.

This paper is accompanied by a letter to the European Commission.

Towards a non-toxic environment: NGO chemical policy asks of the European Commission
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