Green Party Candidate Submits Recommendations for European Union’s POPs Implementation Plan
On October 23, 2012, Cancer Action NY Director Donald L. Hassig submitted the recommendations found below to the Consultation on the European Union’s Persistent Organic Pollutants Implementation Plan. Mr. Hassig called for the Implementation Plan to include an action which directs the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Consumers to provide the residents of the European Union with a warning of the avoidable persistent organic pollutants (POPs) exposure health hazard.
The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Consumers (DGHC) takes the position that it is not necessary to provide European Union (EU) residents with a warning of the avoidable persistent organic pollutants (POPs) exposure health hazard. This is a position that runs counter to all principals of public health. The DGHC must provide EU residents with a warning of the avoidable POPs exposure health hazard. Providing warning of this avoidable health hazard will make it possible for EU residents to minimize the exposures of their children to POPs as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the 2010 report titled, “Persistent Organic Pollutants: Impact on Child Health”. Failure to provide warning as described above denies parents and caregivers the opportunity to take the actions necessary to accomplish POPs exposure minimization among the children that they are responsible for.
The EU POPs Implementation Plan must contain an action that directs the DGHC to provide the residents of the EU with a warning of the avoidable POPs exposure health hazard. This warning is clearly an integral part of any legitimate educational outreach on the subject of POPs. Educational outreach on POPs is required under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. Corporate pressure is what has caused the DGHC to fail in its responsibility to provide the warning proposed herein. The EU POPs Implementation Plan must specifically require that the DGHC take the action described above so as to overcome the corporate pressure that has thus far stopped the DGHC from taking this action. Those who are responsible for implementation of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants must take a role in motivating the DGHC to take the action proposed herein.
Providing warning of the avoidable POPs exposure health hazard is the most important step in any strategy for minimizing the exposures that the children of the EU receive to POPs. Failure to provide this warning denies parents and caregivers any role in minimizing their children’s POPs exposures. Any reasonable human being would see the Truth of this statement. When children are being exposed to poison, the parents and caregivers must know the full and correct facts of the matter. Keeping the parents and caregivers in the dark about the avoidable POPs exposure health hazard is wrong because doing this leads to unnecessary exposures of children to POPs. Parents and caregivers who have been provided with warning of the POPs exposure health hazard can readily take action to minimize their children’s POPs exposures by restricting the animal fat consumption of their children. When the Truth finally comes out on this, the parents and caregivers will have every right to be angry at the DGHC and those who are responsible for implementation of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.
Please find below a series of letters that provides background on the matter of DGHC failure to provide residents of the EU with a warning of the avoidable POPs exposure health hazard.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1/17/12
Mr. Michael Fluh
Head of Unit
Directorate General for Health and Consumers
Brussels, Belgium
Transmitted by Electronic Mail
Dear Mr. Fluh,
In your letter dated August 12, 2011, you make the following statement.
“The Commission is of the opinion that the setting of action and maximum levels for dioxins and PCBs and the adequate enforcement of these levels, provide a high level of human health protection and that there is no need for specific dietary advice at EU level for the consumption of animal fat as regards dioxins and PCBs.”
You make this statement in response to the request of our organization that the Directorate General for Health and Consumers participate in an open dialogue on the subjects of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) contamination of the global food supply and exposure minimization. Your statement can not be defended. State of knowledge scientific research supports the conclusion that contamination of the global food supply with POPs imposes a significant quantity of disease risk upon consumers of animal fat foods. Providing the residents of the European Union with a warning of this avoidable disease hazard is the responsibility of the Directorate General for Health and Consumers.
In 2010, the World Health Organization (WHO) published a public health policy document entitled, “Persistent Organic Pollutants: Impact on Child Health”. In this document the WHO recommends that health arena leaders take action to minimize the exposure that children receive to POPs. The current activities of the Directorate General for Health and Consumers fall far short of being sufficient to minimize children’s POPs exposure. Publication of a POPs Health Hazard Advisory and dissemination of that public education piece widely throughout the European Union is a critical step in accomplishing exposure minimization.
Please make arrangements for the participation of a Directorate General for Health and Consumers scientist with expert knowledge on the subjects of POPs exposure and disease outcome in the conference that I have proposed on the subject of POPs exposure minimization.
joyous in Nature,
Donald L. Hassig
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
8/7/12
John Dalli
Commissioner
Directorate-General for Health and Consumers
European Commission
Brussels, Belgium
Transmitted by electronic mail
Dear Commissioner Dalli,
I have carefully considered the position of the Directorate-General
for Health and Consumers (DGHC) on the matter of persistent organic
pollutants (POPs) contamination of the global environment and
governmental actions necessary to protect public health. I have
concluded that the DGHC is failing to fully utilize scientific
knowledge on the subject of POPs exposure and disease outcome. I have
formed this conclusion based upon the position of the DGHC on
government’s role in this matter as stated at point number 4 in a
letter signed by Mr. Michael Fluh, Head of the Safety of the Food
Chain Unit dated December 8th, 2011.
4) “The Commission is of the opinion that the setting of action and
maximum levels for dioxins and PCBs and the adequate enforcement of
these levels provide a high level of human health protection and that
there is no need for specific dietary advice at EU level for the
consumption of animal fat as regards dioxins and PCBs.”
This statement would be valid if the background levels of dioxins,
PCBs and the other POPs were of such low magnitude as to impose no
risk of adverse health effects. However, this is not the case.
Background levels of POPs contamination of the EU food supply are
similar to those in most other industrialized parts of the world.
Background global levels of POPs contamination are of sufficiently
high magnitude to impose significant risk of serious disease outcome,
including: cancer, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease,
autoimmune diseases, cognitive deficits, developmental abnormalities,
and reproductive impairments. In 2010 the World Health Organization
(WHO) published, “Persistent Organic Pollutants: Impact on Child
Health”. This report provides guidance on public health protection
policy relating to POPs contamination of the food supply. WHO calls
for a worldwide effort to minimize the exposures that children receive
to POPs.
Limiting DGHC action on POPs to those items set forth in point 4 shown
above is far less than an effort to minimize POPs exposure. The most
important strategy for POPs exposure minimization is providing the
general public with a warning of the POPs exposure health hazard.
This can best be accomplished by publication of a POPs exposure health
hazard advisory. The purpose of publishing and widely disseminating
the health hazard advisory is to raise public awareness of the POPs
exposure health hazard thereby empowering individuals to decide for
themselves whether or not to take the risk of eating animal fats at
current levels of food supply contamination.
The measures set forth in point 4 only serve to protect against
accidental excess contamination of foods. These measures do not
address background levels of contamination.
I have previously requested a dialogue on collaborating to accomplish
POPs exposure minimization in the EU. Our organization is moving
steadily forward with POPs exposure minimization in the United States.
We are working closely with the National Center for Environmental
Health and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry,
sister agencies of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
These agencies are currently proceeding with the creation of a
document on dioxins and another document on PCBs. These documents are
intended for use in the education of physicians on the subject of the
significant disease risks associated with current levels of POPs
exposure. Educating physicians is an integral part of POPs exposure
minimization education. Once these documents have been completed, the
next step will be to create documents designed for education of the
general public.
POPs exposure minimization is the only sound policy goal for
minimizing the damages to health that result from the POPs
contamination of the global environment. The only reason for
hesitating to take up the work of POPs exposure minimization is fear
of corporate displeasure. I encourage the DGHC to overcome that fear
and join into the worldwide effort to minimize the POPs exposure of
children.
joyous in Nature,
Donald L. Hassig
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
8/13/12
Michael Fluh, Head of Unit
Safety of the Food Chain
Chemicals, Contaminants, Pesticides
Directorate-General for Health and Consumers
European Commission
Brussels, Belgium
Transmitted by electronic mail
Dear Mr. Fluh,
Please provide a statement setting forth the position of the Safety of
the Food Chain Chemicals, Contaminants, Pesticides Unit on the
magnitude of the persistent organic pollutants (POPs) exposure health
hazard. I additionally request that you provide a statement setting
forth the opinion of the above named Unit on the matter of whether or
not the POPs exposure health hazard is of sufficient magnitude to
merit warning the public of the existence of that health hazard.
Thank you for your attention to this correspondence.
joyous in Nature,
Donald L. Hassig
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
10/3/12
Hon. John Dalli, Commissioner
Directorate-General for Health and Consumers
Brussels, Belgium
Dear Commissioner Dalli,
I have received and read the letter dated October 3, 2012 and signed by Joanna Darmanin . There is nothing in this letter that addresses the matter of the failure of the Directorate-General for Health and Consumers to warn the residents of the European Union of the avoidable persistent organic pollutants (POPs) exposure health hazard. I find it very concern raising that the Directorate-General for Health and Consumers chooses not to warn the public of this avoidable health hazard. It is clear that the Directorate-General for Health and Consumers is controlled by similar corporate interests to those that control the governmental public health entities in the United States and Canada. Those corporations that profit from the sales of foods that contain animal fats are stopping the Directorate-General for Health and Consumers from acting upon its responsibility to warn the residents of the European Union of avoidable health hazards. The Directorate-General for Health and Consumers is behaving badly in allowing these corporations to dictate what is done and what is not done.
It is very wrong for those who hold positions of power in governmental public health entities to choose not to warn the public of the existence of avoidable health hazards. The World Health Organization has called for a worldwide effort to minimize the exposures that children receive to POPs. The Directorate-General for Health and Consumers is not doing the most important thing that it could do to minimize children’s POPs exposures. It is not providing the people of the European Union with a warning of the existence of the POPs exposure health hazard. Those who hold decision-making positions in the Directorate-General for Health and Consumers are responsible for the continuing unnecessary exposures of European Union residents to POPs. This means that the Directorate-General for Health and Consumers is responsible for the diseases and conditions that are caused by these unnecessary exposures. I will continue to work to motivate the Directorate-General for Health and Consumers to warn the residents of the European Union of the avoidable POPs exposure health hazard.
joyous in Nature-Viva the Revolution,
Donald L. Hassig
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
10/15/12
John Dalli, Commissioner
Directorate-General for Health and Consumers
European Commission
Brussels, Belgium
Transmitted by electronic mail
Dear Commissioner Dalli,
I am in receipt of a letter from Joanna Darmanin, dated 10/15/12. This letter makes an effort to justify failing to warn European Union (EU) residents of the presence of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the animal fat portion of the food supply. Despite the measures enumerated in this letter, the food supply is contaminated with levels of POPs that impose a significant quantity of disease risk. This is the consensus of scientists and activists with expert knowledge in the subjects of POPs exposure and health effects. In a situation such as this, where a significant and avoidable health hazard exists, it is the responsibility of the governmental public health entities to warn the public of the health hazard. There is no justification for failure to provide the residents of the EU with a warning of the POPs exposure health hazard.
As I stated in my previous letter, the Directorate-General for Health and Consumers is directly responsible for the harm that results from continuing unnecessary exposures that take place due to the failure to provide warning of the POPs exposure health hazard. Many residents of the EU would restrict their consumption of animal fats if they were aware of the significant disease risk imposed by animal fat consumption at current levels of food supply contamination. It is bad behavior to choose not to warn residents because of the desire to avoid displeasing the corporations that have financial interests in the sales of animal fat containing foods. Avoiding displeasing these corporations is the only reason why the Directorate-General for Health and Consumers and all other governmental public health entities except the World Health Organization (WHO) choose not to warn residents of the POPs exposure health hazard.
Ms. Darmanin states that she takes a different view than that which I take. Her view is different because she is controlled by the desire to live in political comfort. She has no scientific basis for taking a different view. Anyone who was aware of the existence of the POPs exposure health hazard would recognize the Truth of my words.
I call upon you as the top governmental public health official in the EU to warn the residents of the POPs exposure health hazard. This is the only honorable course of action that exists. Failure to provide warning of an avoidable health hazard is a breach of duty. If you are unable to provide this warning, you should step down. You know the difference between enforcing measures to interdict accidental poisonings of the food supply and providing warning of an existing health hazard constituted by the background levels of industrial chemicals in the food supply. The WHO has called for a worldwide effort to minimize the exposures that children receive to POPs. You must provide a warning of the POPs exposure health hazard as part of the effort to minimize children’s POPs exposure in the EU. The children and their parents deserve to have knowledge of the POPs exposure health hazard. It is immoral for the Directorate-General for Health and Consumers to choose not to provide children and parents with this knowledge. The children and their parents have trusted government to provide warnings of avoidable health hazards. Providing such warnings is at the heart of public health work. You must look beyond political considerations and take the action described above.
joyous in Nature,
Donald L. Hassig
Don Hassig for Congress 
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