Combating multiple chemical sensitivity

27.3.2019

Question for written answer E-001513-19
to the Commission
Rule 130
Maria Lidia Senra Rodríguez (GUE/NGL)

Multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) is a newly emerging disease affecting growing numbers of people. It has been officially included in the Spanish International Classification of Diseases since 2014, and other countries, for example Germany (in 2000), Austria (2001), Switzerland (2010), Denmark (2012), and Japan (2009), have likewise recognised it for the purposes of their systems.

Replying in 2015 to Question E-004508/2015, the Commission stated that: ‘the EU does not have the competence to guarantee that care protocols are provided in national or regional public health systems’. What the Commission does have the power to do, however, is combat emerging diseases and safeguard Europe’s environmental health.

1. Bearing that point in mind, what is the Commission’s assessment of MCS?

2. Is the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control considering whether to include this disease on its list, conduct studies, and implement programmes to help make life better for persons affected?

3. Given that organisations representing sufferers have for some time been calling on the WHO to recognise the disease officially, will the Commission exert pressure to make this happen?