FOR EUROPEANS - LONG TERM HEALTH TESTING

EU Health Commissioner 

European Union Health Commission

European Commission

DG Health and Consumer Protection

B-1049 BRUSSELS

cc/Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel

European Union Agriculture Commission

cc/Commissioner Stravos Dimas

European Union Environment Commission

cc/Commissioner Guenter Verheugen

European Union Commission for Enterprise and Industry

                                                                                    December 15th, 2009

Dear Commissioner John Dalli,

Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel,

Commissioner Stravos Dimas,

Commissioner Guenter Verheugen,

 On September 7th, 2009, the American Chemical Society recorded the 50th millionth chemical substance in CAS Registry. Dr. Hideaki Chihara, former president of Japan Association for International Chemical information stated, "a novel substance is either isolated or synthesized every 2.6 seconds on average." 

The U.S. National Academy of Sciences found that only 0.0001% of synthetic chemicals had sufficient toxicological profiles. Of the 2,000 studied synthetic chemicals, half have turned out to be cancer-causing. The rest are tested on us in everyday products.

The Standing Committee of European Doctors has stated, that "it has now been scientifically demonstrated that there is indeed a link between chemical products and the appearance of diseases, such as cancers, infertility, degenerative diseases of the central nervous system and allergies."

Although the REACH legislation has attempted to address this problem, lobbying efforts by industry have reduced the legislation's effectiveness to protect the public.

The scientific tools to identify carcinogenic agents have been available for over 20 years, the European Union has not fully implemented them.

This same argument can be used to address genetically modified crops. These new crops have been unleashed onto an unsuspecting and uninformed public without their consent.

We, the undersigned, demand the following from the European Union:

1) Require MANDATORY LONG TERM HEALTH STUDIES (that test for chronic toxicity, carcinogenicity and reproductive and developmental toxicity) for every old and new:

                        a) synthetic chemical

                        b) genetically modified crop or organism

                        c) drug or pharmaceutical

2) These studies should be paid for entirely by the companies wishing to license these products. These studies should be performed by an independent lab, chosen by the government. These studies should be peer-reviewed and assessed by independent scientists (who have never worked for the company wishing to earn the license).

3) Long term health testing should be conducted using the Ramazzini lifespan model. This model avoids false-negative results and increases sensitivity of bioassays.

4) If negative health results are found, these new or old synthetic chemicals, genetically modified foodstuffs or drugs should not be licensed.

5) All health studies of approved synthetic chemicals, genetically modified crops or drugs should be made entirely public, free and available for download from the European Health and Environment Commission web sites.

6) That the European Union address the problems arising from conflicts of interests permeating throughout the departments. All employees working in governmental departments must disclose and make available a complete list of past employers. Should not recieve compensation from any outside company or association while employed by the European Commission. There are too many individuals entering the Commission to facilitate their past employers interests, while ignoring those of the public. This collusion of industry and government has degraded democratic processes in European Union.

7) Secure the independence of government scientists. Companies should not have any direct contact with government scientists during testing to ensure scientists' independence and protect them from pressure or intimidation.

8) The leadership (board of directors and CEO) of companies must be held criminally responsible for harm to human health that their chemicals or genetically modified organisms cause.   

9) No public, taxpayer money should be allocated to genetically modifying plants, crops or animals, until long term health testing has been conducted. 

If the European Commission fails to enact laws and enforce legislation that protects our families, we will start a campaign to send consumer products that contain cancer-causing ingredients to your departments so the Commission can get a better glimpse of the extent of our contamination.

Kind regards,

Below are the collected signatures of European citizens.