The European Food Safety Authority puts the harmful effects of these substances into perspective, while the European Parliament would like to apply the precautionary principle.
Fruits and vegetables are not the only ones concerned, cereals, pasta but also small wheat-based cakes contain traces of insecticides. This is the astonishing and worrying conclusion of the report Expert established by the environmental association, Future generations. Several food products were analyzed. Générations Futures discovered that 75% of the twelve foods tested had traces of endocrine disruptors. The association nevertheless specifies that these traces never exceeded the maximum authorized limits. “It is urgent to act now to reduce public exposure to these substances as much as possible,” explains François Veillerette, spokesperson for the association.
The Strasbourg Parliament anticipated this call by adopting a very firm report last week against the use of endocrine disruptors. MEPs called on the Commission to adopt the precautionary principle to protect human health.
Defenders of the cause have welcomed these conclusions but their satisfaction will have been short-lived. The eagerly awaited report of the European Food Safety Authority (Efsa) was to provide the criteria which make it possible to classify or not these synthetic molecules in the category of disruptors of the hormonal system. In other words, whether or not to condemn these products, as France has done, for example, with plastic baby bottles.
On arrival, none of that. “There is no specific scientific criterion defined to distinguish potential harmful effects from the assessment must be done on a case-by-case basis. compared to normal regulation of bodily functions, or “adaptive responses”, says the European agency. Efsa proposes to classify disruptors into two categories: active endocrine substances, considered acceptable for the body, and endocrine disruptors, potentially harmful. A classification that would leave all latitude to the agri-food lobbies to guide decisions. In addition, chemicals include 800 substances.
In a report published last February, the United Nations Program and the World Health Organization were much more direct in speaking of a “global threat”. The overall rate of cancers linked to the endocrine system has increased over the past 40 to 50 years, the UN report noted. “The question is no longer whether the epidemic of chronic diseases is linked to endocrine disruptors, commented in Release a manager of the Environment and Health Network, but to what extent they contribute and what is the human and social cost of each. day lost in not tackling the problem head-on.
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