In 2012, the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded that endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) pose a threat to global health. With our programme Harmful substances, we aimed to raise awareness about this issue and advocated the protection of the health of Dutch and European citizens by banning these chemicals from our daily lives and environment. The programme has been successfully concluded as of January 2019.
Harmful substances
During the programme (2013-2018), Wemos engaged with national and EU policymakers and politicians, advocating progressive measures to protect human health. In an alarming report on chemicals that affect our hormones, WHO and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) warned against exposure to EDCs as research has linked them to hormone-related conditions, like fertility problems and certain cancers.
National plans
Exposure to these harmful chemicals calls for action on a global scale and protective policies on national, European and international level. Countries like Denmark, Sweden and France have adopted national plans to protect their population from exposure to EDCs. Throughout the programme we have influenced the development of criteria for endocrine disruptors and the development of a European strategy.
Results of our work for an EDC-free environment
Since the start of the programme in 2013, we succeeded in the following:
- We put the issue of EDCs on the Dutch political agenda.
- We published a proposal for a national plan for EDCs, which we handed in as a petition to Dutch Members of Parliament in September 2018.
- Thanks to our lobby, the Dutch government adopted two resolutions in 2017: one on providing public information on the effects of EDCs on pregnant women, and another one on a ban on Bisphenol A (BPA) in food contact materials.
- We worked closely with Members of European Parliament by organizing events to inform them and push them to take more protective measures. Thanks to our collaboration with the European network HEAL (Health and Environment Alliance), in 2017 the European Parliament successfully objected to the European Commission’s criteria for identifying these chemicals.
- Together with two medical doctors and a toxicologist, we called upon Dutch doctors to push for the use of safe medical instruments – free of EDCs – in the Dutch medical journal Medisch Contact.
- In the Dutch magazine ‘OneWorld’, we completed a series on global health issues, answering questions from readers and raising awareness about the topic among a broader audience. One edition focused on EDCs.
- In 2016, we published a factsheet on ‘Endocrine-disrupting chemicals’ (in Dutch). In collaboration with Women Engage for a Common Future (WECF) and the Pesticide Action Network we developed a report on possible policy measures against EDCs.
On national television and radio
We drew widespread attention to the topic among a wider audience by gaining national and international media attention for EDCs. In 2016, the tv programme Radar broadcasted two episodes on our tests on the presence of Bisphenol A in food contact materials and in the urine of Dutch Members of European Parliament (both episodes in Dutch).
