Environment Action Program to Address Nanomaterials and Endocrine Disruptors
The European Parliament recently adopted a resolution setting priorities for the Seventh Environmental Action Program (7EAP) and urging the Commission to present a 7EAP proposal “without delay.” Set to expire July 22, 2012, the Sixth EAP (6EAP) aimed to provide “an overarching framework for environment policy” and substantially consolidated environmental regulations, although it failed to fulfill several of its objectives and did not account for new challenges such as those concerning mixed chemicals, pesticides and water.
The latest resolution calls for 7EAP to improve implementation, enforcement and integration of the policies laid out in 6EAP and to address additional goals in the following areas: (i) climate change; (ii) sustainability; (iii) biodiversity and forestry; and (iv) environmental quality and human health. In particular, the European Parliament has asked the next program to develop measures to counter “emerging human and animal health threats” as well as “examine the effects of new developments on human and animal health, such as nanomaterials, endocrine disruptors and the combination effects of chemicals.”
Meanwhile, the European Commission will accept comments on 7EAP until June 1, 2012. Slated for release in November 2012, the new program will remain in effect through 2020. See Bloomberg BNA: Daily Environment Report, May 2, 2012.
