16.02.2022 | Civil society intensifies PFOS discussion: health and environment first
A broad coalition of environmental and nature associations and health and family organisations wants lessons to be learned from the PFOS scandal. In a joint vision statement, they advocate a more muscular environmental policy in Flanders, which puts the health of every Flemish citizen first and works on the fight against carcinogenic substances and hormone disruptors. They formulate 28 concrete recommendations to the Flemish government.
Learning from the PFOS scandal
“The PFOS dossier has brought all the sore points of Flemish environmental policy to the surface. Discharge standards turned out to be too lax, permits were written to suit companies, scientific advice was ignored. The positive news is that the government can learn a lot from what went wrong here.”, says Tycho Van Hauwaert, Industry policy expert at Bond Beter Leefmilieu.
“Long-term exposure to chemicals like PFOS, even at low doses, increases the risk of some cancers. That is why it is crucial that we as a society do everything we can to eliminate these types of substances from our environment in the future.”, adds Ann Gils from Stand Up to Cancer.
28 points: from child norm to insurance against environmental damage
In total, the organizations formulate 28 key points, which allows policymakers to restore the balance between industry and a healthy environment.
“We have done our homeworkWe now hope that the parliamentary inquiry committee will study our recommendations and incorporate them into its final report.”, says Tycho Van Hauwaert of the Association for a Better Environment.
“This is how we advocate stronger government services for nature, environment and health. They must have sufficient people and knowledge in-house to thoroughly assess all permits and impose safe environmental standards. There must also be more on-site inspections so that environmental standards are also effectively respected.”, said Van Hauwaert.
In addition, the coalition advocates that to be more careful with chemicals, especially hormone disruptors. “It must be proven that a product is not harmful to the environment and public health before it is put into use or discharged into the environment. Because children are particularly vulnerable to environmental pollution, we ask the government to base these standards on the harmfulness to children, the child norm.”, says Ann Gils of Stand Up to Cancer.
“Companies in Flanders that work with polluting substances should also be required to insurance to conclude a policy that covers the financial costs of cleaning up environmental damage and restoring nature.”, says Jef Van De Wiele of Natuurpunt.
“62% of the Flemish people have never heard of hormone disruptors. The citizen Better information about health risks is a priorityIn this way, exposure to hormone disruptors can also be reduced at home.”, concludes Maarten Peeters of the Independent Health Insurance Funds.
Call for citizens to sign petition
The organizations call on all citizens to strengthen their demands by the petition to be signed. This will be handed over to the Flemish government when the parliamentary inquiry committee on PFOS issues its final report.
Strong civil society standing up for public health
It is striking that alert citizens got the PFOS ball rolling. Then, the civil society succeeded, based on its expertise, in analyzing the flawed policy and proposing improvements. With their vision statement, the signatory organizations hope to strengthen environmental policy so that it arms citizens against this type of large-scale environmental pollution.
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