Nominated for its aggressive and misleading lobbying to kill REACH, the legislation intended to secure environmental and health standards for chemicals in Europe. Cefic is nominated this year for two clear examples of how it is continuing to employ scare mongering and mis-information tactics, in what is probably the largest European industry lobbying campaign ever.

In early 2006, lobbying by CEFIC was instrumental in the European Parliament’s decision not to grant NGOs the possibility to challenge violations of environmental law by EU institutions at the European Court of Justice. Chemical industry lobbyists claimed that allowing NGOs access to justice would mean “one-sided treatment” and exclude “citizens and companies”. In reality, chemical companies already have access to the European Court, whereas citizens and NGOs do not. With this misleading lobbying, CEFIC ensured that only chemicals companies can use the European Court in disputes about the implementation of REACH.

This autumn, CEFIC’s lobbying machine attacked an absolutely central principle within REACH: that hazardous chemicals for which a safer alternative exists should be phased out. In its attempt to scaremonger MEPs, CEFIC claimed that the proposals for ‘substitution’ would lead to all hazardous chemicals being banned overnight, including the ones that help save lives. In a full-page advertisement in the European Voice, CEFIC suggested that the proposal would prevent the use of DDT against malaria and that this would cause the death of thousands of African children. The advertisement, accompanied by a picture of a black child, was deeply cynical and misleading, not only because DDT is a pesticide and therefore exempt from the scope of REACH, but also because the substitution proposal would allow numerous highly dangerous substances to be authorized, for instance where safer alternatives are unavailable or where socio-economic benefits outweigh the risks.

Vote for CEFIC for its misleading lobbying to undermine EU chemicals legislation.

Links to more information:

Letter to MEPs on draft Aarhus Regulation on access to justice, CEFIC, 10 January 2006

Letter to MEPs concerning Second Reading Vote on report Korhola, Green 10, 13 January 2006

Chemical industry lobby prevents environmental NGO’ s access to European justice, John Hontelez, Metamorphosis, April 2006

The CEFIC advert, published in European Voice, 19 October 2006

Letter to the editors of the European Voice on the CEFIC advertisement, Friends of the Earth Europe, 24 October 2006

CEFIC hammers NGOs: Chemical Industry Blocks Environmental NGOs Access to Justice, Corporate Europe Observatory, November 2006

EU Chemicals Policy Review (REACH). Our Views & Activities: Enhanced safety through smart substitution, special section on CEFIC website