The story of the Sambhavna Clinic, a non-profit holistic health clinic in Bhopal, India, built to treat those injured by the Union Carbide toxic gas release in 1984. enlarge video
Contact: Anja Leetz +49 152 5397 8103
Pharmaceuticals in water - Token control – instead of real protection
Brussels — Today the EU Commission published a proposal to revise existing water legislation to curb chemical pollution in Europe’s water systems. For the first time three pharmaceuticals (1) are listed, but the number of substances for control is disappointingly low to ensure protecting Europe’s water from toxic chemicals.
Health Care Without Harm Europe (2) director Anja Leetz states: It has taken the Commission twelve years to come up with a list of only 15 substances from 2000 initially considered to be potentially harmful substances. At this speed it will take us around hundred generations to control hazardous substances in our water alone. It also means Europe will fail to protect human health and to achieve the 2020 goal of phasing out priority hazardous substances.
Health Care Without Harm Europe calls for a clear and binding timetable and for phase out action to end the release of hazardous substances into water.
HCWH has identified action for pharmaceutical companies, i.e. companies need to utilize green chemistry, increase absorption, reduce excretion of waste using less harmful materials in manufacturing and take the full life circle approach in their R&D.
The proposal will now be discussed by the EU Parliament and Council and to be agreed on within this year.
Contact
Anja Leetz, Executive Director, Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) Europe. Email: anja.leetz@hcwh.org. Tel: +49 6222 76 93 202 or Cell: +49 152 5397 8103
More information
(1) The three pharmaceuticals are: 17 alpha-ethinylestradiol (EE2), 17 beta-estradiol (E2) and Diclofenac - all are classified as hazardous, which means that Member States must take measures for them in their second round of River Basin Management Plans (due in 2015). 17 alpha-ethinylestradiol (EE2), 17 beta-estradiol (E2) have endocrine disrupting properties, this means they can interfere with our delicately balanced hormone system.
(2) HCWH is a global coalition of more than 514 organisations in 53 countries working with the health sector to reduce its impact on human health and the environment while advocating for global environmental health.
(3) For more information by the Europe Commission, click here
Health Care Without Harm is an international coalition of more than 500 organizations in 53 countries, working to transform the health care sector worldwide, without compromising patient safety or care, so that it is ecologically sustainable and no longer a source of harm to public health and the environment. Visit the HCWH website for more information.
