Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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555. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if Ireland is one of the 15 EU member states to oppose the EU Commission proposal for criteria for endocrine disruptors; the Government position; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28660/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The EU Regulations dealing with authorisation of plant protection products and biocidal products stipulate that active substances intended for use in products can only be approved if they are not considered to have endocrine disrupting properties that may cause adverse effect in humans. In June 2016 the Commission presented an impact assessment and draft legislative proposals for scientific criteria to identify endocrine disruptors under the Biocidal Products legislation and the Plant Protection Products legislation.

Discussions involving the Commission and Member States are ongoing on the draft legal texts. The Commission's proposals include an explicit description of the scientific data requirements for identification of endocrine disruptors. They also include detailed instructions on how scientific evidence is to be evaluated, judged and weighted. My Department consider that the Commission’s approach will enable decision-making criteria for biocides and plant protection active substances to be applied in a consistent and predictable manner.