We know how harmful toxic chemicals can be to people. So why has the EU dropped plans to block them? | Geoffrey Lean

Industry lobbying and rightwing politicians are involved in this decision. The pushback against green policies must be resistedGeoffrey Lean is a specialist environment correspondent and authorCan there be a better example of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory? In a disclosure that threatens to go relatively unnoticed, it emerges that at the last minute, vital steps to protect Europeans from toxic chemicals have fallen foul of the growing political backlash against green measures. Continent-wide rules that would have banned the use of dangerous substances have been delayed and may now be abandoned altogether, with huge consequences for human health and the chemical industry.As exclusively reported by the Guardian, the European Commission has dropped plans to regulate chemicals from its latest work programme after lobbying by industry and opposition from rightwing politicians. The measures - whose details had been virtually finalised ready for publication - would, among other things, have outlawed all but essential use of thousands of hazardous substances believed to cause more than a quarter of a million cancers in Europe each year. Continue reading...