As EU member states, regional and local authorities prepare to implement the revised Ambient Air Quality Directive (AAQD), this briefing by the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) argues that decision-makers and authorities should pay particular attention to addressing socio-economic inequalities in their clean air efforts. The swift transposition and implementation of the new rules, with strengthened administrative collaboration and the full utilisation of financial support schemes, promise significant progress towards cleaner air across Europe. Improved air quality will be beneficial to everyone and contribute to preventing health inequalities for those living in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas.
The governments of the European Union are in the process of deciding whether to relicense chlorpyrifos – a pesticide widely used across Europe that has serious negative effects on the health of our children. What can we learn from the last time this pesticide was approved on the European markets?
The Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) is organising a new series of webinars dedicated to the health and environmental impacts of chlorpyrifos, a pesticide widely used across Europe.
In the third and final webinar of the series, we invited Dr. Axel Mie (Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm) and Dr. Christina Rudén (Stockholm University) to present their review of the two main industry-funded studies on developmental neurotoxicity of chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos-methyl. These industry-funded studies have played a central role in the previous market approval of chlorpyrifos in Europe.
Their review rebuts the conclusions of the industry studies on the absence of neurodevelopmental effects of both substances, identifying many failures, shortcomings and inadequate interpretation of raw data. It also uses this case study to discuss some aspects of the current pesticide approval procedures and possible health-protective ways forward.
Webinar #3: Lessons learned from the approval of chlorpyrifos
Wednesday 12 June, 17:00 – 18:00 CET
Registration: https://ivonneleenen.typeform.com/to/klJhqu