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Euro-MP Chris Davies lands TV advertisement role
Date article online: 02/10/2006
Rochdale Euro-MP Chris Davies has landed a starring role in a TV advertisement aimed at winning public support for tough new legislation on chemicals.
Crucial votes in the European Parliament on 11 October will set the scene for final negotiations between MEPs and Ministers on the shape of the new law.
Up to 30,000 chemicals, many used in household products, will have to undergo new registration and testing requirements to ensure that they present no long term danger to human health or the environment.
The WWF (Worldwide Fund for Nature), the world's largest environmental charity, is leading the campaign for a ban on chemicals of very high concern if safer alternatives exist.
In the advert commissioned by WWF, Chris Davies and three MEPs of other nationalities confess to being contaminated by chemicals contained in everyday items such as canned fish (heavy metals), carpets (dyes and flame retardants) and paints (toxic solvents).
The Rochdale Euro-MP, who is the Liberal Democrat environment spokesman in the European Parliament, is one of the key negotiators working on the new EU chemicals law known as Reach (Regulation, Authorisation and Evaluation of Chemicals).
He said: "Chemicals are hugely important to our way of life but we know very little about the possible long term consequences of their use.
"The new law will require manufacturers to prove that their products are safe before they put them on the market.
"I want a tough but practical measure that will safeguard our chemicals industry while ensuring that it sets environmental standards for the world."
Man-made chemicals are found in a vast range of consumer products from furniture, clothes and toiletries to electrical appliances and cleaning products and have never been properly tested. Recent studies have found that people in Britain have scores of artificial chemicals accumulating in their bodies.
The tests will look at chemicals in household products, including bleach, disinfectant and cleaning fluid, that have been blamed for the huge surge in childhood asthma in Britain. A recent study shows that children born into households that use them are twice as likely to suffer from persistent asthma.
The advertisement is to be broadcast on satellite channel 'Euronews' and several other EU national TV stations.
The advert can be viewed online at:
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