Stop Toxic Exports
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- Published on Sunday, 29 November -0001 16:00
- Written by editor
Hi Sylvia,
Good news from Brussels: the European Commission aims to propose a law next year to stop the export of chemicals already banned in the EU.
I heard that directly from the European Commissioner for Environment last Thursday, when I presented our 213,000-strong petition to him, with a group of other campaigners. Thank you again for signing and sharing the petition!
But the Environment Commissioner can’t make this law on his own.
We’ll need to push with everything we’ve got for a strong proposal and then a water-tight law, that really forces the industry to change. Companies shouldn’t be allowed to switch to making their banned chemicals abroad – something no doubt they’ll threaten to do, to make politicians lose their nerve.
This can’t be won in a couple of months. It’s going to take years of creative, audacious, and tireless campaigning to win. But what’s the alternative? To let Europe’s corporations continue poisoning the world?
Some of this is predictable: A pesticide industry spokesperson told journalists last week they’d like to keep the rules just the way they are. So no surprises there.
But the political mood music in Europe is uncertain. Though European governments and the European Parliament roundly endorsed the European Green Deal years ago – including a commitment to stop toxic exports – many conservative politicians are now openly opposing anything even remotely green.
Commissioner Sinkevičius told us last Thursday to expect a 6-weeks public consultation on the proposed law soon. His team has already begun gathering impact assessment data.
So we’re not starting from scratch, even if this ban is long overdue.
Still, it wouldn’t hurt to have more EU Commissioners clearly on board, besides the Environment Commissioner – and not least Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who hails from Europe’s conservative political group.
As President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen announced the European Green Deal exactly three years ago this week. She even called it “Europe’s man on the moon moment.” – That’s the energy we need again!
We can do this!
EU leaders this week agreed to the final text of a historic law that bans imports linked to deforestation.
That took a massive campaign coalition effort, and at times I felt that the worst lobbyists and most shortsighted politicians would beat us – but we made it.
What we did for harmful imports, we can do for harmful exports too!
Thank you for everything that you do,
Eoin, Sondhya and all the SumOfUs team
P.S. We also co-hosted a hybrid conference last Thursday on this topic, where we heard from scientists, from impacted communities, and from government officials. I even read aloud some of the comments that SumOfUs members left for the Environment Commissioner. You can watch a video of the event here.
More information:
Video: An EU-wide ban on the export of banned pesticides and hazardous chemicals, SumOfUs and partners, 1 December 2022.
Campaigners call to end ‘double standards’ on EU exports of banned chemicals ENDS Europe, 1 December 2022.
The Export of Banned Pesticides to Africa and Central America: Legal Opinion, CIEL. 26 September 2022.
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