The Independent Environment Debate: Chemicals: EU must act to cut

THE GOVERNMENT has promised to push for the introduction of tough new testing regimes for "toxic or risky" chemicals.

The Environment minister Michael Meacher told the conference he would press his European Union counterparts to take international action on chemicals with dangerous side-effects, which include commonly used pesticides, solvents and flame retardants.

The regulation of chemicals has been a matter of serious dispute within the EU, which is planning to frame new Europe-wide standards on the restriction of chemicals with possible health risks.

Tighter controls have been fiercely resisted by the chemical industry and by figures within the European Commission and British Government. But Mr Meacher said he would raise the issue of new controls on "toxic or risky chemicals" at the EU's environment council next Thursday. "Chemicals are part of modern civilisation but there are certain chemicals which are toxic and bioaccumulative," Mr Meacher said. "We need to look for alternatives. I am very keen to see [the EU] being more effective in dealing with the most toxic or risky chemicals."

The minister said an effective regulatory regime would have to be found that would not lead to a trade war between countries, and possibly the United States.

The chemicals under review include flame retardants used in sofa fabrics that contain hormone-disrupting chemicals and phthalates, which are used as a solvent in many cosmetics and could affect humans. Alkyltin, an antibacterial agent used in shoe insoles, can be absorbed through the skin and has been shown to be a powerful hormone disrupter in wildlife - it has made female dog whelks grow penises.

Yesterday a government report showed that two-thirds of grapes contain pesticide residues, including traces of chlorpyrifos, an organophosphate pesticide. More than a quarter of apple juice samples taken by the Government's pesticide residue committee contained a fungicide that has been found to affect the production of sperm and to damage testicular development in rats.

The Conservative environment spokesman Damian Green told the conference that he believed European countries had to work together to regulate such chemicals. "The enforcement of any effective policy in this area is going to have to be EU-wide," he said.

Mr Meacher said the "precautionary principle" should be applied if there was a doubt about the safety of a chemical.

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