92000E0357

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0357/00

by Elisa Damião (PSE) to the Commission

(14 February 2000)

Subject: Health and safety at work

The drastic fall in the fertility rate of men and women and the problems of pregnant women (miscarriages, premature births, transmission of diseases and increase in disorders which the scientific community attribute to modern-day living and working conditions) are underestimated and are not included in the statistics relating to occupational diseases. Neither are adequate preventive measures taken. This is undermining maternity and paternity rights, with serious implications for the population balance of European societies. Will the Commission provide all the information available on the matter at both European and national levels?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(23 March 2000)

The Commission is closely monitoring research and information on the problems which certain agents found in workplaces can have on both female and male fertility.

As far as science is concerned, there is neither unanimity nor firm evidence of any possible global decline in human fertility caused by exposure to agents found in the working environment.

In 1998 the Commission asked a recognised scientific institute to carry out a second specific study of infertility and occupational factors. This study includes an analysis of the effects of the agents most commonly encountered in the working environment on fertility and provides a very useful synopsis of the research projects carried out in this field. A copy of the final report is being sent directly to the Honourable Member and the Parliament Secretariat.

Furthermore, in recent years, scientific circles have devoted special attention to the possible effects on human health especially the reproduction aspects of endocrine disrupters, which are chemicals capable of changing or disrupting the endocrine system.

In 1999 an Opinion on human and wildlife health effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals was adopted and published by the Scientific Committee on Toxicity, Ecotoxicity and the Environment. One of the Committee's findings is that although there are associations between endocrine disrupting chemicals, so far investigated, and human health disturbances, a causative role of these chemicals in diseases and abnormalities possibly related to an endocrine disturbance has not been verified. Furthermore, the opinion reports that a meta-analysis of 61 studies has reported a general decrease in sperm concentration and semen volume from 1938 to 1990. However, several reanalyses of the same data have indicated possible bias and confounding in the meta-analysis, and have reached different conclusions with respect to sperm quality, depending on the methodology used. A copy of this opinion is being sent directly to the Honourable Member and the Parliament Secretariat.

In any event, the Commission is continuing to monitor these matters systematically with a view to adopting any appropriate Community initiatives on the prevention of fertility problems resulting from occupational exposure to certain agents.