UN Publishes List of Endocrine Disruptors

UN Environment has published three reports that summarize the scientific status of substances that disrupt the endocrine system. The reports document possible solutions, legal and political initiatives, and a list of 45 chemicals, such as phthalates, bisphenols and parabens, that are considered endocrine disruptors according to specific criteria.

In 2016, the agency asked the International Panel on Chemical Pollution (IPCP) to provide an overview of current knowledge about endocrine disruptors, including their effects on the environment, how legal systems treat them, and any political initiatives that exist.

The IPCP identified 26 possible solutions, giving special significance to the following three:

• The EU candidate list of substances of very high concern (SVHC)
• The Substitute It Now (SIN) list of Chemsec, the Swedish environmental protection organization
• The evaluation of the Danish environmental protection agency (EPA), which has its own criteria for
  endocrine disruptors (EDC)

Report I identifies, examines, and compares the EDCs. According to the authors, the various solutions use different criteria or weight criteria differently, depending on the goal and purpose of each approach. As a result, more than 1,000 chemicals have been identified as EDCs so far.

Report II contains material that includes the list of 45 EDCs that are clearly identified as such by the three solutions given by the IPCP.

Report III provides an overview of existing legal frameworks and the measures that have been taken so far. The authors state that the information available is not uniform and comes from various references.

At the end of last year, the EU agreed upon uniform criteria for the identification of EDCs in pesticides. See our blog entry: EDC Criteria for Pesticides on the Way.

In the context of the political dimensions of the discussion, the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI) took a position in a position paper (in German only) issued at the beginning of July.

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