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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">France is leading the way on banning endocrine disruptor<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><o:p> </o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><o:p> </o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><a href="http://www.euractiv.com/sections/science-policymaking/france-urges-quick-action-endocrine-disruptors-302726">http://www.euractiv.com/sections/science-policymaking/france-urges-quick-action-endocrine-disruptors-302726</a></span><o:p></o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><o:p> </o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="5" color="#222222" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:19.0pt;color:#222222">France urges ‘quick action’ on endocrine disruptors</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><o:p> </o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.75pt"><font size="2" color="#222222" face="Open Sans"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Open Sans";color:#222222"><img border="0" width="460" height="307" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.jpg@01CF8627.96E880E0" alt="http://jpg.euractiv.com/files/styles/x-large/public/gallery/chemicals_0.jpg?itok=6UtJqF8G"></span></font><font size="2" color="#222222" face="Open Sans"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Open Sans";color:#222222"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:14.75pt;line-height:18.0pt"><font size="2" color="#222222" face="Open Sans"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Open Sans";color:#222222">Paris has placed the EU’s endocrine disruptor strategy on the
agenda of a meeting of environment ministers on Thursday (12 June), saying the effects of some chemicals on the human body are now sufficiently documented and call for urgent action at the European level.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:14.75pt;line-height:18.0pt"><font size="2" color="#222222" face="Open Sans"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Open Sans";color:#222222">A
<a href="http://register.consilium.europa.eu/doc/srv?l=FR&f=ST%2010247%202014%20INIT">
<font color="#014ba3"><span style="color:#014BA3">briefing note</span></font></a> circulated by France ahead of the meeting shows Paris is losing patience with the European Commission’s long-delayed endocrine-disruptor strategy.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:14.75pt;line-height:18.0pt"><font size="2" color="#222222" face="Open Sans"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Open Sans";color:#222222">The Commission had planned to issue a definition of endocrine
disruptors in December 2013, but its publication was delayed by the EU’s Environment Commissioner, Janez Potočnik, who wants to complete an impact analysis before taking any action at European level.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:14.75pt;line-height:18.0pt"><font size="2" color="#222222" face="Open Sans"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Open Sans";color:#222222">The scientific community is divided on how to define endocrine
disruptors and under what circumstances they may impact human health, especially at very low doses.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:14.75pt;line-height:18.0pt"><b><font size="2" color="#222222" face="Open Sans"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Open Sans";color:#222222;font-weight:bold">>> Read our LinksDossier:
<a href="http://www.euractiv.com/science-policymaking/endocrine-disruptors-harmful-linksdossier-532278">
<font color="#014ba3"><span style="color:#014BA3">Endocrine disruptors: Harmful or not?</span></font></a></span></font></b><font size="2" color="#222222" face="Open Sans"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Open Sans";color:#222222"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:14.75pt;line-height:18.0pt"><font size="2" color="#222222" face="Open Sans"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Open Sans";color:#222222">But France disagrees and says there is now ample scientific evidence
to move forward on the matter, based on the precautionary principle.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:14.75pt;line-height:18.0pt"><font size="2" color="#222222" face="Open Sans"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Open Sans";color:#222222">“Some products and everyday objects, such as detergents, plastics,
cosmetics, textiles, paints, contain substances with endocrine disrupting properties,” France said in the briefing note, underlining that “many chemicals interfere with the hormonal regulation of living beings and affect reproduction, growth, development,
behaviour, etc.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:14.75pt;line-height:18.0pt"><font size="2" color="#222222" face="Open Sans"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Open Sans";color:#222222">“The effects on human health and the environment are now documented
and call for action to prevent and limit risk exposure especially among sensitive populations – pregnant women and young children,” it states.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:14.75pt;line-height:18.0pt"><font size="2" color="#222222" face="Open Sans"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Open Sans";color:#222222">The French note received backing from Sweden and Denmark, two
countries which have led calls to regulate what some scientists have called “<a href="http://www.euractiv.com/sustainability/scientist-calls-regulation-steal-news-512565"><font color="#014ba3"><span style="color:#014BA3">stealth chemicals</span></font></a>”
because their precise source cannot be traced easily.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:14.75pt;line-height:18.0pt"><b><font size="2" color="#222222" face="Open Sans"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Open Sans";color:#222222;font-weight:bold">>> Read:
<a href="http://www.euractiv.com/sections/climate-environment/sweden-sue-commission-over-delays-rules-chemicals-302326">
<font color="#014ba3"><span style="color:#014BA3">Sweden to sue Commission over delays to rules on chemicals</span></font></a></span></font></b><font size="2" color="#222222" face="Open Sans"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Open Sans";color:#222222"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:14.75pt;line-height:18.0pt"><font size="2" color="#222222" face="Open Sans"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Open Sans";color:#222222">At issue is the definition of criteria for what constitutes a
hormone-disrupting chemical.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:14.75pt;line-height:18.0pt"><font size="2" color="#222222" face="Open Sans"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Open Sans";color:#222222">France wants a European definition “based on the intrinsic properties
of hazard, without taking into account the ‘<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potency_(pharmacology)"><font color="#014ba3"><span style="color:#014BA3">potency’</span></font></a>” of the substance – or the response that a drug might generate at very low
doses for the human organism.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:14.75pt;line-height:18.0pt"><font size="2" color="#222222" face="Open Sans"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Open Sans";color:#222222">Based on this definition, France suggests establishing three
categories of endocrine disrupting chemicals, based on the level of certainty of the scientific community over their impact to the hormone system – “verified”, “presumed” and “suspected”.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:14.75pt;line-height:18.0pt"><font size="2" color="#222222" face="Open Sans"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Open Sans";color:#222222">This definition, France adds, should be adapted to the different
routes or “windows of exposure”, including low dose contamination and pregnancy.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:14.75pt;line-height:18.0pt"><font size="2" color="#222222" face="Open Sans"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Open Sans";color:#222222">The French proposal, based on the inherent hazardous properties
of chemicals, will be controversial for the chemicals industry, which insists on the need to consider hazard and exposure jointly in order to evaluate the actual risk.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:14.75pt;line-height:18.0pt"><font size="2" color="#222222" face="Open Sans"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Open Sans";color:#222222">Jeff Stier, a senior fellow at the National Centre for Public
Policy Research in the United States, <a href="http://www.euractiv.com/science-policymaking/eu-us-approaches-endocrine-disru-analysis-530818">
<font color="#014ba3"><span style="color:#014BA3">argued that France had flouted scientific principles</span></font></a> when it sought to ban the use of Bisphenol A (BPA) in any food contact item starting in 2015.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:14.75pt;line-height:18.0pt"><font size="2" color="#222222" face="Open Sans"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Open Sans";color:#222222">Stier said calls for regulation, backed by environmental campaigners
and France, are “based an old but still unproven theory that argues that very low levels of exposure actually have an even larger effect than higher exposures”.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:14.75pt;line-height:18.0pt"><font size="2" color="#222222" face="Open Sans"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Open Sans";color:#222222">Andreja Škerl, Press Officer for Environment, at the European
Commission, was a bit more generous towards France.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:14.75pt;line-height:18.0pt"><font size="2" color="#222222" face="Open Sans"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Open Sans";color:#222222">"We believe it is a good idea to discuss this important issue
in the environment council," he told EurActiv France, "and we will all listen carefully (to) the information point from France on endocrine-disrupting substances tomorrow".<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><o:p> </o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><o:p> </o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Deborah L. DeBiasi</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><b><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy;font-weight:bold">Email: Deborah.DeBiasi@deq.virginia.gov</span></font></b><b><i><font size="2" color="red"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:red;font-weight:bold;font-style:italic"><br>
</span></font></i></b><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">WEB site address:
<a href="http://www.deq.virginia.gov/">www.deq.virginia.gov</a></span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Virginia Department of Environmental Quality</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Office of Water Permits
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Industrial Pretreatment/Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) Program</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">PPCPs, EDCs, and Microconstituents<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><a href="http://www.deq.virginia.gov/Programs/Water/PermittingCompliance/PollutionDischargeElimination/Microconstituents.aspx">http://www.deq.virginia.gov/Programs/Water/PermittingCompliance/PollutionDischargeElimination/Microconstituents.aspx</a></span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Mail: P.O. Box 1105, Richmond, VA 23218</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Location: 629 E. Main Street, Richmond, VA 23219</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">PH: 804-698-4028 FAX: 804-698-4032<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><o:p> </o:p></font></p>
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