Lannoye (Verts/ALE), rapporteur. – (FR) Mr President, we shall not be short of compliments today. I should like, on behalf of all my colleagues, to thank the Commission for its proposal. It is an excellent proposal, and the work of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy was made easier by the fact that the basis for discussion was very good right from the start.

Like the Commissioner, I would remind the House that nonylphenols and nonylphenol ethoxylates – I shall refer to them as NPEs to facilitate the discussion – are classified as substances which are highly toxic to aquatic organisms. These substances accumulate biologically in aquatic species, and they have also been shown to have an endocrine-disrupting effect. The 2000 water framework directive classifies them as hazardous substances.

The Commission proposes to put an end to the use of these substances in eight specific fields, and the Committee on the Environment, on that basis, proposes that the area of application be extended to include co-formulants in pesticides as well as active substances and co-formulants in biocides. The Commission also proposes that the concentration threshold for NPEs should be brought into line with the one proposed for nonylphenols, or NPs, in other words it should be based on a limit value of 0.1%. It is also asking for an amendment to the directive on sewage sludge, so as to introduce a concentration limit value for these same substances contained in sewage sludge.

As far as cement is concerned, when it contains chromium VI in non-negligible quantities it can cause allergic reactions if it comes into contact with the hands. Personal protective measures, such as the wearing of gloves, are certainly necessary, but it has been found that they are not sufficient to prevent reactions of this type. The addition of a reducing agent, usually ferrous sulphate, reduces chromium VI to a harmless chemical form. The Committee on the Environment proposes that the addition of a reducing agent be extended to cover all cements containing more than two parts per million (ppm) of chromium VI, with an exemption restricted to cases where the cement is used in closed-circuit fully automated systems. This is an essential measure, both for the workers concerned, and I am thinking in particular of construction workers, and for the public purse, which has to pay out sizeable amounts of compensation to the victims of allergic dermatitis. I would point out that we have a figure for Germany of EUR 36 million per year in compensation, which enables us to measure the economic impact of this problem. I would also point out that chromium VI is a carcinogenic and mutagenic substance which is suspected of causing lung cancer and cancer of the respiratory tract as a result of its presence in dust.

The Committee on the Environment is therefore asking for two things. Firstly, with regard to the directive on the protection of workers against risks from chemical agents, it is asking for an amendment introducing a limit value for the concentration of dust in the atmosphere. Secondly, it is asking for provision to be made, in other sectors which use chromium VI in various products, for legislative initiatives of the same kind as those that have been adopted for end-of-life vehicles and for electrical and electronic equipment.

The Commission’s proposal, as I have already said, was very good right from the start, which made our task easier and enabled us to envisage, after discussion with the Council’s representatives, consultations before the plenary vote, so as to obtain agreement at first reading. The vote in the Committee on the Environment enabled us to take this step, and it was accepted by the representatives of the various political groups within the Committee on the Environment, for which I thank them. We have thus obtained agreement between the three institutions, though not on every point, because it is clear that differences of opinion still exist on a certain number of points, but we have at least reached agreement on the essential points before the plenary vote. Where I come from there is a proverb which says that the best is the enemy of the good. For my part, I have always thought that the good, in this case, consisted of obtaining a result, since the objective was essentially to speed up the implementation of the adopted texts.

I should therefore like to thank, officially and most sincerely, the Commissioner and the Commission officials, as well as the Greek Presidency of the Council, for allowing us to reach an overall agreement which will be put to the vote tomorrow. It will thus be possible to implement very rapidly what I personally regard as the most important proposal, namely the proposal to eradicate an industrial disease, the allergic dermatitis caused by the presence of chromium VI in cement, which is one of the most damaging diseases and one of the most costly to society.