Support for REACH is growing
as both European and American doctors come
forward to support the initiative.
03/05/2005 In a strongly-worded letter to
MEPs, the Standing Committee of European Doctors
(CPME) is calling on Ministers and MEPs to
"ensure a strong chemicals’ policy that
will protect children and future generations’
well-being and health". This call from
the CPME is significant as the Standing Committee
is composed of the main medical associations
in the 25 EU Member States and as such is
the voice of European doctors.
"Due to the nature of their work, medical
doctors see first hand the risks of harm caused
by chemicals", says the CPME, "As
the representative of all European medical
doctors and thus committed to the prevention
of diseases, CMPE welcomes the REACH initiative".
According to epidemiological statistics,
30% of the population in industrialised countries
is suffering from diseases caused by environmental
factors. At least 4% to 9% of the population
is suffering from multiple chemical sensitivity,
chronic fatigue syndrome (also known as ME)
and fibromyalgia. This is in a similar range
to diabetes.
The CPME is a signatory to the Paris Appeal,
signed by many of the world’s leading scientists,
doctors and Nobel Prize winners, that calls
for REACH to be implemented.
Among the Standing Committee’s demands are
a call for hazardous chemicals to be substituted
by safer alternatives where they are available,
for chemical manufacturers to be responsible
for the harm their chemicals cause for sufficient
test data to be available for substances produced
in low volumes to decide if a chemical is
carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to reproduction.
The CPME is also calling for the right to
know about chemicals that are hazardous to
health.
Doctors need to know for their patients’ sake
The importance of knowing possible chemical
effects is also stressed by Dr Peter Ohnsorge,
from the European Academy for Environmental
Medicine in Wuerzburg.
"If we knew more about how chemicals
can cause harm, this would give us a greater
awareness of the illnesses from which our
patients are suffering", he said. "It
also will help us to diagnose and treat our
patients early enough and in an adequate way
so that we treat causes not just symptoms."
Dr Ohnsorge explained how working directly
with patients convinced him that REACH was
necessary. "We have to help patients
who are suffering from illnesses linked to
the environment", he said. "It is
not possible for us to look for all the chemicals
that are causing their symptoms,so by avoiding
the most harmful ones we can start from the
point of view of prevention".
Keeping down the costs of medical treatment
in Europe
Part of Dr Ohnsorge’s support for REACH is
based on the very practical issue of funding
health care on an individual and a European
basis.He believes that REACH would help patients
because if they had more information about
the effects of certain chemicals, they could
get proof of the nature of their illness and
use this to get financial support for treatment
from their medical insurance.
In Europe-wide terms, REACH will also help
to keep down the costs of health systems,
says Dr Ohnsorge.
"The European population is aging and
as it grows older chronic illnesses will increase,
costing Europe’s health services a substantial
amount of money. We need to deal with this
by developing good preventive medicine so
we can save money on future therapy and treatment.
By withdrawing chemicals that obviously cause
environmental illnesses from the market, we
will be taking preventative measures, cutting
down the level of illness and keeping European
health systems viable."
US doctors add their support for chemical
control
An American Medical Association has joined
the call for controlling hazardous chemicals.
At the end of March the Californian Medical
Association issued a resolution "affirming
the need to identify, monitor, evaluate and
control chemicals and biological agents that
may be hazardous to health".
The CMA also points to the "increasing
scientific evidence that many persistent chemical
pollutants are contributing to the incidence
of some diseases and conditions such as cancers,
endometriosis, infertility and birth defects".
The Association stresses that "even
once adequate information is available, the
available regulatory tools for reducing exposures
to toxic chemicals are extremely cumbersome,
both in the United States and in other industrialised
countries".
It notes that "REACH (as currently drafted)
provides that government authorities will
review information on toxicity, use and exposure
and identify substances of very high concern,
and further provide that authorisation is
only granted after showing that risks are
adequately controlled".
REACH provisions similar to accepted US FDA
regulations
In an important acknowledgement, the CMA
says that REACH provisions are similar in
concept and practice to the ‘"long-accepted
processes for evaluation and regulation of
medications as embodied in the United States
Food and Drug Administration, as well as the
primary medical dictum ‘First, do no harm’".
