What is being done?
Medium-term action
The medium-term actions of the Commission's strategy centre on
the practical and experimental activities needed to ensure that
suspected chemicals are tested in a speedy and accurate way. The
test development process is directed by the Organization for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD); the Commission contributes
by coordinating the input of member states. These actions include:
- The development and validation of internationally agreed test
methods to assess endocrine disruption in people and wildlife.
- The development of a European test strategy for identifying
and assessing EDs that is consistent with similar strategies in
other countries such as the USA and Japan.
- The co-ordination and funding of international research into
the underlying mechanisms of endocrine disruption and understanding
how these mechanisms can impact on human health. The Commission
is working closely with the World Health Organisation (WHO) through
the International Programme for Chemical Safety (IPCS) in addition
to overseas governments, departments and agencies. Research has
been funded under the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Framework Programmes
for R&D and has been included in the calls for proposals under
the Seventh Framework.
- The identification of alternative chemicals to substitute those
on the priority list will be undertaken when appropriate test
methods for ensuring their safety of these substitute chemicals
are available.
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