환경호르몬물질 관리의 현황과 과제

초록

Endocrine disruptors are life risks that are exposed to our daily lives, such as breathing air, food to eat and drinking water. In the EU, the costs of exposure to endocrine disruptors are conservatively estimated at € 157 billion per year, which is why the World Health Organization and the United Nations Environment Program call it the “global threat” to address the effects of endocrine disruptors. The EU has taken the most preemptive stance on regulatory legislation on endocrine disruptors. For example, Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), Plant Protection Products Regulation (PPPR), and Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR). Nevertheless, the pace of EU action for consumer protection of endocrine disrupting chemicals has been criticized as being unforgivably slow. The management status of endocrine disruptors in Korea is very poor compared to that in EU. In this paper, we analyzed the current legislation and tasks of Korean endocrine disruptors and examined them in comparison with the EU system and the US system. First, the regulatory system of endocrine disruptors have not a regulatory system that integrally controls Endocrine disruptor substances or products containing Endocrine disruptors, or individually regulates specific Endocrine disruptor substances and their products. Regulation of the environment hormone substance itself is mainly carried out in the Law on Registration and Evaluation of Chemical Substances and the Chemical Substance Control Act. Representative regimes include registration system, designation of toxic substances through hazard examination, Designation of substances, authorization materials, restriction substances, designation and management of prohibited substances, and so on.　As for the regulation of Endocrine disruptor substance-containing products, there are regulations on the safety standards and labeling standards for biochemicals, biocidal products, hygiene products and other household products, And regulations on containers and packaging. In addition, the Special Law on Environment and Health Law and the Special Law on the Safety of Children’s Products puts special regulations on children’s products. It is judged that it is a legitimate legislation considering that children are vulnerable to chemicals compared to adults. However, the safety standards and labeling standards for children’s textile products are subject to special regulations in accordance with the Special Act on the Safety of Children’s Products. However, they are subject to the universal regulation on general industrial products. In regulating child products, It is pointed out that the concepts of infants, children and children are confused and the age standards are not uniform. Exposure of endocrine disruptors can affect health, but the causal relationship is uncertain in risk assessments. This suggests that it is necessary to respond to early warning signals and, as far as possible, replace environmental hormone substances with safe alternatives. As a specific management method for the regulation of endocrine disruptive substances, it is requested to actively use the key management substance, the permissible substance and the restricted substance system as in the EU. On the other hand, the most important thing from the consumers’ point of view is the information about products in daily life that contain endocrine disruptors, and governments and companies should have a sense of responsibility for disclosure of this information and the obligation of providing information.

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