Cancer scientists call for stronger EU chemicals law

May 12, 2004

Paris, France - Leading cancer specialists and toxicologists have launched a worldwide appeal to control chemical pollution and strengthen proposed EU law known as REACH in a move to stem the growing incidence of cancers. The appeal was part of an international Colloquium in Paris on the links between pollution and cancer.

Scientists and researchers at the Paris Colloquium organised by French cancer research organisation ARTAC* gave their support to the Paris Appeal, which will be presented to the United Nations, the European Union, and national decision makers at the end of 2004.

Professor Belpomme, ARTAC’s President and organiser of the Appeal, said, "We are hoping to raise a million signatures from scientists, opinion leaders and ordinary citizens".

Professor Epstein from the University of Chicago supported the appeal saying, "We don’t need any more scientific studies to tell us whether chemicals are safe. We need to act now to protect our citizens, and we need a strengthened REACH".

Scientists, doctors, politicians, and a range of civil society organisations spoke to a packed room of over 500 people on the importance of controlling chemicals and of strengthening REACH. University Professors Richard Clapp, Marcel Goldberg and Samuel Epstein all laid down strong evidence of the links between the growing cancer rates and chemical pollution. So far hundreds of people have signed up to the appeal since it was launched on 7 May. Former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Nobel Prize Laureat François Jacob have both added their names.

Chemical pollution: a danger to survival
The appeal sounds the alarm that ‘Chemical pollution represents a serious threat to children and to man’s survival’.

One of its demands is for REACH to be implemented: "The EU 2001 REACH initiative details unprecedented and overdue legislative proposals for the regulation of industrial chemicals…. this initiative should be strengthened, rather than weakened."

Professor Epstein said that the EU had buckled under intense pressure from the EU and US chemical industry and the US government, so that REACH was now a shadow of the original version drawn up in 2001.

In giving her backing to the Paris Appeal, Professor Corinne LePage from the Institute of Political Studies in Paris, and a former French Government Minister described it as "a reminder that society has a moral responsibility towards the environment".
Support for REACH also growing among Northern European industry
This unprecedented scientific support for chemical control is matched by growing industrial support from Northern Europe. In March the Nordic Council (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden) published REACH – a leap forward for industry which gives substantial support for REACH.

The report showed that of the 28 firms likely to be affected by REACH, 18 were either ‘generally in favour’, or ‘neutral/undecided’.

"The overall impression is that the Nordic industry is not overly worried about REACH," according to the report’s authors.

This was backed up on 5 March by Kemikontoret, the Association of Swedish Chemical Industries, which confirmed that the EU proposal on chemicals did not pose a threat to Swedish jobs. Anita Ringstrom, Kemikontoret’s vice president explained that Swedish industry had already adjusted its activities to take account of future demands.

Many Swedish downstream users of chemicals are also now supporting REACH. These include world-wide names such as Volvo, Electrolux, the Swedish Construction Federation, Skanska construction companies, and Tetra Pak. According to Tetra Pak "it is important that our industry gets sufficient information about the chemical content of materials and articles that we use; especially when it comes to food packing".

Support is growing in other parts of Europe as well. In Britain, Boots, a large retailer, is welcoming "the development of the revised EU chemicals policy ... including the requirement for data on the safety of chemicals to be made available".

Also in the UK, a government Consultation Paper, The new EU chemicals strategy, published at the end of March this year, estimates that the direct costs of REACH to the chemical industry will be €3.6 billion over 11 years. This is equivalent to €0.3 billion per year — a mere drop in the ocean compared to the €50 billion profits of the top 50 European chemical companies in 2002.

Consumer concern about chemicals drives the retail sector
Consumer concern over the use of untested chemicals is also at an all-time high. A European Commission Survey of November 2003, discovered that 93.3 per cent of those surveyed believed that the use of chemicals had the largest impact on health of all environmental factors.

This high level of consumer concern is changing the attitudes of Europe’s retail sector. IKEA, the multinational home goods retailer, "supports the aims and objectives of the proposed legislation since it will help us to get better knowledge and control of the chemical substances used in consumer articles", it has said.

Major British retailers such as Sainsbury and Marks & Spencer as well as the British Retail Consortium (BRC) support REACH, and Marks & Spencer has described REACH as "a once-in-a generation opportunity".

Support from workers’ organisations In April the European Trade Union Confederation, which represents 60 million workers in 35 European countries, adopted a declaration welcoming REACH. ETUC says that REACH will protect workers from hazardous working conditions and encourage industry to innovate.

In March, the Austrian workers’ organisation, the Federal Chamber of Labour (BAK), issued its position paper welcoming REACH as a ‘"major milestone to extend to users the responsibility for the safe use of chemicals and to involve users in the chain of communication at the level of chemicals legislation," and as a way to "… assure a high degree of protection for workers, consumers and the environment".

For more information contact, Julian Scola, WWF European Policy Office, Tel: +32 2 743 8806. E-mail: jscola@wwfepo.org

* Colloquium on Cancer, Society and the Environment, organised by ARTAC, Association pour la Recherche Thérapeutique Anti-Cancéreuse
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