Polish Women for a Toxic Free Future

WECF's 6th of December workshop in Warshaw

10.12.2004 |Sonja Haider

Workshop participants doing a 'toxic tour' of cosmetics

Fiftysix women participated in the workshop „For a Toxic-Free-Future“, which was organised by WECF and its two partner groups, Social Ecological Institut (SEI) and the Karat Coalition the workshop in Warsaw on December 6th.

This event was an introduction for women primarily from Poland to become more acquainted with the health and environment related aspects of toxic chemicals and to hear about the current opportunity to give input as the EU is revising it’s chemicals policy. It brought women from the region together to talk about their concerns, their challenges and networking with others doing similar work.

The event was a first step to introduce women to this complex issue of health, chemicals and gender aspects in a way that was relevant and understandable to them in the context of their daily activities and their family’s health. We discussed chemicals and health, cosmetics, detergents and the particular vulnerability of women and children. We also discussed the political debate under way in Brussels and opportunities for women’s interventions.

The participants prepared a statement during the workshop. Download the Statement (pdf.) from the Polish Workshop on chemicals and health.

First impressions from comments and evaluation sheets is that participants find the event very interesting and important and they hope that it is just the beginning and that the work will continue.

The presentations of the experts, in English and Polish, can be downloaded here:

Perfumes
Lobbying for REACH
Chemicals and Women
Otzo-dzialania
WEN, chemicals & beauty

The press-conference attracted 20 journalists, and 3 experts were interviewed on breakfast television, for more information contact wecf.

For more information about chemicals in Poland, go to the Polish WWF website.