Supporting the Implementation of the EU Community Strategy on Endocrine Disrupters

Abstract

The regulatory challenge posed by endocrine disrupting chemicals cuts across several major pieces of EU legislation, either already in force such as REACH, the Plant Protection Products Regulation and the new Cosmetics Regulation, or still at the stage of a proposal, such as the revision of the Biocides Directive. The EU Community Strategy on Endocrine Disrupters provides a valuable coordination framework to develop a systematic approach for the identification and assessment of endocrine disruptors, which can be applied across the different pieces of legislation. The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre is involved in a number of scientific/technical activities such as the validation of new testing methods, the development of a web based IT platform for endocrine active substances and the development of an OECD harmonised template for reporting on intermediate toxicological effects. The aim of these policy support activities is to provide tools and scientific knowhow that will reduce the number of animal experiments needed to assess potential endocrine disrupting properties of chemicals while at the same time ensuring the maximum protection for human health.