Newsletter October-December 2003

**UPDATED**Aarhus Convention on access to information, public participation in Environmental matters

This article has been updated with information regarding a new report entitled "Environmental Democracy" published in 2006.
The Aarhus Convention is an international agreement which lays down a set of basic rules to promote citizens’ involvement in environmental matters and improve enforcement of environmental law.
In particular, it grants the public access to environmental information, provides for participation in environmental decision-making, and allows the public to seek judicial (...)

Nonylphenols to be banned in Germany

The German cabinet has decided to introduce a ban on the industrial use of nonylphenols and hexavalent chromium from mid-2004, subject to approval by the Bundesrat, or upper house of parliament.
The ban would also apply to hexavalent chromium, a component of cement which is a skin irritant.
Click here to read the press release (in German)
Nonylphenols
Nonylphenol is part of a family of chemical compounds called alkylphenols. Nonlylphenol is usually reacted to produce nonylphenol (...)

EEN October - December 2003 Newsletter online

Welcome to the Oct-Dec edition of the Epha Environment Network (EEN) Newsletter.
2004 environment and health milestones During the first six months of 2004, two major action plans will be adopted in Europe. The first one, an EU Action Plan on Environment and Health is expected to be launched in early June, and include recommendations on setting up a monitoring system and other precautionary legislative action.
The second one, to be adopted by 52 health and environment ministers from the (...)

Climate change impacts on health, agriculture and biodiversity

Swiss scientists are predicting that from 2070 onwards summer heatwaves in Europe will be the norm as a result of climate change.
The results of the EU-Swiss funded project are published in Nature magazine and indicate that one summer in two will be at least as hot as 2003 when daytime temperatures exceeed 30 degrees celsius and soared to peaks of 40 degrees.
The heatwave in 2003 created huge forest fires in several countries, destroying about three to four times more woodland in France (...)

New publications on climate change and health

The World Health Organisation is launching two new publications to explore the impact of climate change and health at the COP 9 meeting in Milan, Italy on 9-12 December 2003. The ’Conference of Parties’ or COP is the "supreme body" of the Climate Change Convention. Its mission is to promote and review the Convention’s implementation.
The WHO programme on global change and health started in 1999 to implement the recommendations of the Third Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health (...)

US farm workers to be tested for pesticides

Pesticide testing ahead for many state farmworkers. In the first week of December 2003, the US state Department of Labor and Industries is expected to adopt rules requiring blood samples from workers who handle certain pesticides.
The rules are aimed at protecting workers from a class of pesticides called organophosphates and carbamates. Both compounds affect the central nervous system by depressing cholinesterase, an enzyme that helps regulate the nervous system.
By 2005, the regulation (...)

US alert on arsenic in children’s playground equipment

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released preliminary findings on Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA), a chemical mixture consisting of three pesticidal compounds (arsenic, chromium, and copper) registered for wood preservative uses. This follows public concern about the longterm health impact of treated wood in children’s outdoor play structures. The biggest risk is posed by hand-to-mouth contact with the treated wood. Concerned parents should ensure that children wash their (...)

NGO strategy conference: making our environment work for children’s health - final report now available online

An international "NGO Strategy Conference: Making our Environment Work for Children’s Health", jointly organised by the European Public Health Alliance and the European ECO-Forum, was held on the 15th-16th December 2003 in Brussels. The Final NGO Strategy Conference Report and the NGO Brussels Statement are now available below.
The conference brought together environmental, health, women, consumer and youth organisations to focus and bring new ideas to the preparations taking place for the (...)

EU and China agree on environmental cooperation

The European Union and China have signed an agreement on strengthening environmental co-operation on 12 November 2003. The focus of the agreement is primarily on climate change, biodiversity and water. A key objective will be to co-operate in further developing and implementing multilateral environmental agreements.
See agreement attached.

Nordic concern about retardants and phthalates in humans

Data released in Norway and Denmark on November 2003 reinforce concerns over brominated flame retardants and phthalates respectively.
A study by the Norwegian public health institute (FHI) finds that levels of the former in mothers’ milk have risen 58% over the past decade, while the Danish veterinary and food administration (DVFA) reports that children, especially infants of 6-12 months, still suffer levels of exposure to phthalates up to ten times those of adults, despite a series of (...)

Commission requires collection and recycling of all batteries

The European Commission has adopted a Proposal for a new Battery Directive, which will require the collection and recycling of all batteries placed on the EU market.
It aims to prevent spent batteries ending up in incinerators or landfills and therefore to recover the various metals used in batteries.
Due to the metals they contain, batteries pose environmental concerns when they are incinerated or landfilled.
Since thousands of tonnes of different metals are used in battery production, (...)

WWF carries out blood survey in UK

WWF UK has issued a report which summarises a nation-wide blood survey they have carried out.
The survey found a cocktail of highly toxic man made chemicals in every single person tested in the UK-wide blood survey.
WWF press release.
WFF’s biomonitoring report.

Intergovernmental forum on chemical safety

The fourth session of the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety (IFCS Forum IV), hosted by the Government of Thailand, was held in Bangkok, 1-7 November, 2003.
The key issues for the Conference were:
children and chemical safety
occupational safety and health
acutely toxic pesticides
hazard data generation
availability and a review of capacity building assistance
Agenda of the (...)

Commissioners and MEPs test their blood for chemicals

Commissioner Margot Wallström and 155 other people (among them MEPs) have had their blood checked for the presence of persistent chemicals on 6 November.
The tests were part of an awareness-raising campaign organised by World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
Chemicals such as PCBs (Poly Chlorinated Biphenyls) and PBDEs (Poly Brominated Diphenyl Ethers) build up in the human body over time, can be transfered to developing babies in the womb and are known to have serious health implications (eg (...)

Greenhouse gas emissions trading directive enters into force

On 25 October, the directive establishing an EU-wide greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme entered into force (Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 2003 establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community and amending Council Directive 96/61/EC). Under this trading scheme, around 10,000 EU companies will be able (from 1 January 2005 onwards) to buy and sell permits to emit carbon dioxide. Member States have (...)

Commission presents the new REACH proposal

The European Commission has presented on 29 October 2003 a proposal for a new EU regulatory framework for chemicals. The proposed new system is called REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of CHemicals), and requires that manufacture or import of more than one tonne of a chemical substance per year be registered in a central database.
The proposal has been drafted in consultation with all interested parties, including via an internet consultation.
The proposed Regulation would (...)

US considers banning flame retardants

PBDE’s fire-retardant properties are believed to have saved thousands of lives, but they are harmful to animals in laboratory tests.
There’s still no proof that they cause problems in humans.
What is clear is that levels in humans are rapidly building up, doubling every two to five years.
That gap between their potential harm and the lack of conclusive proof has created rifts between US state and federal officials and even within the ranks of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), (...)

EU fails to ban dangerous pesticide ’paraquat’

Several environmental NGOs and trade unions have expressed their dissapointment with EU’s failure to ban dangerous pesticide ’paraquat’.
The EU failed late on Friday 3 October to ban Paraquat, one of the most dangerous and controversial herbicides in the world.
The EU Commission’s Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health did not exclude paraquat from the list of active substances authorised at EU level (Annex 1 of the Pesticides Authorisation Directive 91/414).
Paraquat use (...)

US think-tank predicts more heat waves

The Earth Policy Institute (EPI) has released a document on the heat wave that scorched Europe in August 2003, from which at least 35,000 people died.
The EPI is US based think-tank which studies environmentally sustainable economies - eco-economies. The EPI warns that such deaths are likely to increase, as "even more extreme weather events lie ahead".
EPI document.

Environmental liability: debate on mandatory financial security

On 26 September 2003, the Commission published its response to the Council’s common position on the draft directive on Environmental Liability which is just entering second reading stage in the European Parliament.
On 18 September 2003, Council common position on the draft directive on environmental liability was formally adopted on the basis of the political agreement reached in June 2003.
The Commission considers that the Council’s common position aims to simplify the procedures and (...)

Environment Council conclusions, 27 October 2003

Conclusions of the Environment Council meeting of Monday 27 October 2003 in Luxemburg.
The Council adopted positions on
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) The Council reached agreement on a political compromise text from the Presidency for a Draft Directive to reduce emissions of VOCs from organic solvents in certain paints, varnishes and vehicle refinishing products. Greece abstained. These compounds are linked to harmful ground-level ozone. The Directive sets maximum limits on organic (...)

NGOs sing ’Krakow Declaration’ for a better CAP

180 NGOs have signed the ’Krakov declaration’.
Friends of the Earth Europe organised a campaign to collect signatures for the ’Krakow Declaration’ to be presented to the NGO Conference ’EU Accession and Agriculture: making CAP work for People and the Environment’, organised by Polish Ecological Club, Friends of the Earth Europe, the Heinrich Boell Foundation and the Dutch Ministry of Environment, in Krakow on November 7 & 8.
The Krakov Declaration calls for a more sustainable, (...)