HCWH Europe this week joined with 8 other environmental and health NGOs to co-sign an open letter sent by the European Environmental Bureau to Member States ahead of the European Chemical Agency (ECHA)’s REACH Committee meeting.

In the letter, we have called for Member States to support the Commission’s proposal to identify four phthalates (DEHP, DBP, BBP and DIBP) as substances of very high concern (SVHCs) according to Article 57(f) of REACH due to their endocrine disrupting properties and consequent implications for human health, and to reject the Commission’s proposal to grant authorisation for the use of DEHP in consumer articles made with recycled PVC.

Although it has already been agreed that DEHP will be listed as an EDC for the environment, during the meeting this week (which is taking place from 16-17 March), Member States will vote on whether these four phthalates will be listed as EDCSs due to their human health effects.

Member States have already unanimously agreed in the Member State Committee (MSC) that these four substances have endocrine disrupting properties for environment and the majority of Member States agreed that as the level of concern over these effects on human health is equivalent, the four phthalates should be listed according to Art 57(f).

We agree with the majority of Member States and the Commission on the importance of specifying the mode of action of these phthalates as endocrine disruptors by identifying them as SVHCs according to Art 57(f), as this would better reflect existing scientific knowledge on these substances. 

Read the letter in full here.

Find out more:

• Read more about the issue of EDCs here.
• Read our Non-Toxic Healthcare report here.
• Read about endocrine disruptors in the healthcare sector here.