The Ministers of Health and the Environment presented a “new strategy on endocrine disruptors”. These chemicals found in many products can alter the hormonal system and cause serious health problems.
Endocrine disruptors are found in a large number of everyday products: cosmetics, plastics, household products and even in our food. These chemical substances disrupt the hormonal functioning of living organisms, and would present risks for pregnancies, but not only. They would, for example, be responsible for the reduction in the quality of sperm, the increase in the number of precocious puberties, as well as certain cancers, although this has not yet been fully proven.
A list of endocrine disruptors
To limit the risks represented by these substances, the government has launched an action plan, drawn up with parliamentarians, monitoring and research bodies as well as environmental protection and consumer protection associations. The French have until February 8 to make their suggestions and comments. The flagship measure of this action plan is to publish a list of endocrine disruptors by 2021, classified into three categories: “suspected”, “presumed” and “proven”. It is the Health Security Agency (Anses) which will take care of it.
Inform the French of the risks
Agnès Buzyn and the Minister of Ecological Transition, François de Rugy, led this project which was presented to the press on Monday. “The first phase is to keep up to date an exact list of what we call an endocrine disruptorsince today there are still uncertainties about certain molecules, and debates at the international level”, explained in Bordeaux the Minister of Health, Agnès Buzyn. “We do not yet have the scientific proof of all the toxicity of each of these molecules, so it is important (…) to feed knowledge so that the French can themselves be actors of their health.
Thus, this project plans to conduct a communication campaign for the general public and to create, during 2019, an information site on chemicals, including endocrine disruptors. The plan also provides for better training of health personnel, as well as the financing of specific scientific research on the subject.
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