Denmark to Sue EU Over Flame Retardant Linked to Birth Defects

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, January 4, 2006 (ENS) - The Danish government plans to challenge the European Commission over approval of a flame retardant that may cause birth defects and cancer.

The government announced on Monday that it will take the European Commission to court over its decision to overturn a ban on bromated flame retardants in electronic devices.

Bromated flame retardants are a group of chemicals used to prevent fires in appliances such as televisions and computers, but the chemicals are suspected of causing birth defects and cancer.

One of the retardants, deca-BDE was to be banned starting on July 1, but the Commission has now decided to annul the ban.

The government of Denmnark, an EU member state, had asked the Commission to provide proof that alternatives to deca-BDE do not exist. It did not do so, and the government will ask the courts to ensure that the chemical is not exempted from the current ban.

"It is unacceptable that the Commission will exempt deca-BDE from the general ban when there are alternatives to it," said the Danish Environment Minister Connie Hedegaard.

Danish Environment Minister Connie Hedegaard (Photo courtesy Euro Environment)

In the last decade, concern has been raised regarding the use of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) due to their increased occurrence in the environment and possible toxic impact on humans and wildlife. As a result, two commercial PBDE products have recently been banned within the EU, while the use of the third product, deca-BDE, is still approved.

In June 2005, the European Parliament's Environment Committee called on EU governments to oppose the exemption of deca-BDE. In a resolution adopted on June 23, 2005, Members of the European Parliament on the Committee said that the Council of Ministers should block the Commission's proposals to remove deca-BDE from the ban.

From July 1, 2006, a new European law known as the RoHS Directive provides that any new electrical and electronic equipment must not contain certain hazardous substances - lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE).

An important issue of current concern for electronics sellers is whether deca-BDE will be treated as a hazardous substance, or whether the Commission's proposal to exempt deca-BDE from the RoHS Directive will prevail.

A meeting of EU member states' national experts, the Technical Adaptation Committee, voted, on April 19, 2005, in favor of the Commission's proposal to exempt deca-BDE.

But because the proposal did not reach the necessary qualified majority - 72.3 percent of the votes - to be adopted immediately, it was sent to the EU Council of Ministers which had three months to adopt a decision.

The chemical at the core of the controversy, deca-BDE, is used in computers to prevent fires. (Photo courtesy FreeFoto)

Hedegaard said that the decision to permit deca-BDE went against the REACH chemical regulations, which were adopted by the EU Council of Ministers in December.

Deca-PDE is becoming more prevalent in the global environment. In November 2005, Greenpeace International published a paper that showed how European eels from 20 locations in 10 countries across Europe were found to contain varying levels of brominated flame retardants.

The results provide a snapshot of hazardous chemicals in eels from a random selection of urban and rural fresh and brackish ecosystems and indicate the degree to which their habitat has been contaminated.

The European eel is capable of living up to 20 years. As a relatively fatty species, the European eel absorbs and concentrates the bioaccumulative organic pollutants that may be present in lower concentrations in its diverse diet of crustaceans, worms, snails, larvae and small fish. For these reasons eels have long been recognized as a “bioindicator” species able to reveal the contaminants present in local habitats, writes Helen Perivier of Greenpeace International.

As well as providing insight into the environmental quality of their freshwater ecosystems, the presence of hazardous chemicals in the European eel is significant because of the potential adverse impact on the species itself, Perivier writes.

European eel populations are in severe decline across the continent and a precautionary approach towards protecting this species is critical for its survival. In some European waters, numbers of young eels are estimated to be as low as one percent of historic levels.