The Council and the European Parliament reached agreement on the 7^th EU Environment Action Programme. The ‘Living well, within the means of our planet’ programme identifies nine priority objectives for the period to 2020 and will guide EU policy action on environment and climate policy for the next seven years.

In particular, BEUC welcomes the more ambitious provisions when it comes to hazardous chemicals. It admits that there is:

“still uncertainty about the full impacts on human health and the environment of the combined effects of different chemicals (mixtures), nanomaterials, chemicals that interfere with the endocrine (hormone) system (endocrine disruptors) and chemicals in products. Research indicates that some chemicals have endocrine-disrupting properties that may cause a number of adverse effects on health and the environment, including with regard to the development of children, potentially even at very low doses, and that such effects warrant consideration of precautionary action.”

BEUC will monitor the implementation of the programme with a special focus on EU policy on hazardous chemicals.