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(10/04/03) EP vraagt ban op gevaarlijke stoffen in schoonmaakmiddelen

Het Europees parlement maakt komaf met gevaarlijke stoffen in schoonmaakmiddelen. De maatregel komt vooral ten goede van mensen die beroepshalve met deze middelen moeten omgaan, weet GroenLinks'er Alexander De Roo. Die betreurt het dat niet meteen ook komaf werd gemaakt over een soortgelijke regeling voor fosfaten. De Commissie zal daarover met een voorstel op de proppen komen.

EP demands ban on use of dangerous substances:
EP votes for safer detergents


The Greens/EFA in the European Parliament welcomed today's plenary vote which endorses the phasing out of certain dangerous substances in detergents.

Commenting on the vote, Alex de Roo MEP (Netherlands), Vice-President of the Environment Committee, said:

"We welcome the decision by the European Parliament today to phase out the use of substances that are carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to reproduction in all detergents. This will affect institutional or industrial use, where such substances are still permitted and will greatly benefit both the workers concerned as well as the environment."

"I regret that it was not possible to agree on a phase-out of phosphates in detergents for the time being. Phosphates in detergents make a major contribution to eutrophication of our waters, alternatives are widely available, and several Member States have already outlawed their use. But at least we insisted that the Commission comes forward with a new proposal within three years which should include a phase out of phosphates."

Inger Schoerling MEP (Sweden) welcomed the outcome with regard to additional toxicity testing:

"I am glad to see that we introduced a second condition to allow surfactants on the market. It will not be enough to show that 60% are biodegraded. It will also have to be ensured that there are no particularly dangerous substances in what is not biodegraded. While we would have liked to see more - we had asked for general toxicity testing of the non-biodegraded part - we have now at least made clear that substances that are very persistent, very bioaccumulative, or have endocrine disrupting properties must not remain after biodegradation."

GroenDe enige partij die sociaal én milieuvriendelijk is.

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De Groenen/EVAGroenen en Europese Vrije Alliantie in het Europees Parlement.

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