Is the Commission doing everything it can to ban non-essential uses of PFAS?
21.12.2023
Question for written answer E-003754/2023
to the Commission
Rule 138
Mathilde Androuët (ID)
In October 2020, the Commission adopted a new strategy towards a toxic-free environment[1]. However, it is reportedly scaling back its ambitions[2]. By October 2021, five Member States, including France, had called for a ban on all non-essential uses of PFASs[3] – so-called forever pollutants whose widespread presence on the European market continues to grow. PFAS are linked to cancer, diabetes and obesity, and their annual cost to European public health is estimated at between EUR 52 and 84 billion[4]. According to the Forever Pollution Project, more than 17 000 sites in Europe are contaminated by PFAS, and there is a powerful lobbying operation aimed at weakening the proposal to ban them[5]. PFAS are also present in pesticides authorised by the European Union[6], which, according to current regulations, must not have harmful effects on humans or unacceptable effects on the environment.
- 1.Does the Commission dispute the data from the surveys and studies mentioned above?
- 2.Does it consider it justified that pesticides containing PFAS have been excluded from the scope of restrictions?
Submitted:21.12.2023
- [1] Green Deal: Commission adopts new Chemicals Strategy towards a toxic-free environment, European Commission, https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_20_1839
- [2] La Commission européenne s'apprête à faire recul sur l'interdiction des produits chimiques nocifs, Euractiv, 11 July 2023
- [3] Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances
- [4] Polluants éternels PFAS: ‘Une approche groupée pour les interdire est plus efficace’, Sciences et Avenir avec AFP, 7 February 2023
- [5] The Forever Pollution Project, https://foreverpollution.eu/
- [6] Some pesticides used in Europe may contain PFAS, according to a new report, Euronews, 10 November 2023