28/06/2013 - MP's Rocket to Water Companies over Gender-Bending Chemicals

MPs’ Rocket to Water Companies over Gender-Bending Chemicals in Rivers

The Angling Trust today backed (June 24) a hard-hitting report by a powerful group of MPs which urged water companies to remove gender-bending chemicals from waste water before they get into rivers. 

Angling Trust Chief Executive, Mark Lloyd said:  “I am delighted that this all-party Select Committee backs what the Trust has been calling for over the past few years.

“There is mounting evidence that these endocrine disruptor chemicals make fish change sex, can poison aquatic organisms and damage ecosystems.

“Anglers have traditionally been the environmental custodians of our rivers and waterways and we have repeatedly highlighted and campaigned on this issue.”

In its new report, the cross-party Science and Technology Committee said it was a “cause for concern” that oestrogen-based chemicals in the contraceptive pill, and some micro plastics, got into rivers via sewage discharges.

And in a rocket to the water companies - which have threatened a £100 a year hike to water bills if they are forced to act - the MPs said: “We are not convinced that the industry is giving enough priority to developing innovative solutions to improving water quality.

“It seems content instead to simply pass on the burdens of increased costs to its customers.”

The European Union is proposing new rules that would require all member states to invest in treatment technology to remove chemicals from sewage effluent.  The report said the European Commission was right to consider banning more chemicals from waste water but it called on the water companies to seek “innovative solutions,” and prepare for possible regulation while more detailed evidence is gathered.

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