Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-07-05-Speech-3-190"
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"en.20000705.6.3-190"2
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"Mr President, on behalf of the Committee on Legal Affairs let me state in very clear and simple terms the position of the committee as we voted; (a) to ban all phthalates and (b) as a consequence to delete all labelling, since if you prohibit all phthalates you do not need labelling.
As the rapporteur, I share the concerns of the Members of Parliament in my committee. As elected politicians we clearly cannot afford to play fast and loose with children's health. We must ensure that they are not exposed to unnecessary and unacceptable health risks and acknowledge the public concern on this issue.
In the interests of the single market we must achieve the highest common standards for product safety. We also need legislation which cannot be undermined or discredited by legal challenges. This debate has unfortunately been clouded by confusion and uncertainty fuelled by comments in Parliament from Scientific Committee members who doubted the need for any ban on phthalates and questioned whether the health risks are serious or immediate enough to warrant a ban.
As politicians we need clear advice from scientific committees if we are to make rational judgements, take the necessary risk management measures and produce good legislation. In this case we have not been able to do that effectively because of the gaps in our knowledge, and so my committee understandably decided to go for a blanket ban. Nor do we have any information on substitutes to plasticisers which might have toxic or chronic effects.
I believe that this legislation shows us that we need action on a number of areas: (a) we urgently need to continue work on migration testing and research into chronic toxicity and the behaviour of children; (b) we need to review and update this legislation periodically and as gaps in knowledge are filled, where necessary add new substances to the ban in the Commission's legislation. We need to formalise and accept the permanent ban which the Commission is proposing now and we need stringent health warnings and labelling to inform our consumers of the risks.
We have to answer to the public on the legislation that we produce in Parliament, and we cannot afford to be complacent about risks to children's health."@en1
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