10th December 2004 Dear Mr. Wesselius, I am writing to you as a chairman of the Bromine Science and Environment Forum (BSEF) in response to your Open Letter to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on 25 October 2004. I was surprised CEO chose to illustrate the issues of ethics and transparency in industry's relations with the european Commission by referring to BSEF as an "industry front group". As you know, BSEF is the global industry association representing the major producers of brominated chemicals. BSEF is dedicated to further the scientific and regulatory understanding of brominated chemicals including flame retardants, which save thousands of lives by increasing the fire resistance of materials in homes and public places. We also communicate widely on the results of this science, and represent the bromine industry on issues of environment and human health. There is absolutely no secret about what interests BSEF represents, who its members are, or where our offices are located. All this information is readily available on our website, www.bsef.com. No "considerable research efforts" are needed to discover this. Furthermore BSEF, as the industry representative body has the same observatory status on various EU committees as NGOs like WWF and Greenpeace. One example is the UK Chemicals Stakeholder Forum, whose minutes and hende the record of BSEF attendance and representation can be found on the relevant website of the UK's department on the Environment. Thus we fail to see how our transparency can be in question. BSEF has a dedicated science team and programme and is committed to ensure that the brominated products placed on the market are safe for the environemnt and health. Since its creation, BSEF has commissioner more than 100 studies from independent scientists and scientific institutes. We were the first to initiate environmental monitoring studies on specific brominated flame retardants across six European countries and have carried out work to develop the compatibility of plastics with recycling and recovery. BSEF has also recently developed a voluntary industry emission control programme in Europe and has done so in coordination with regualtors and NGOs. BSEF represents the interest of our members and employs consultants like many other bodies in Europe. The fact that we share office space with our outside EU consultant makes perfect sense in terms of cost and operational efficiencies and has never been concealed (it is on the name plaque at the entrance of the building). I would be happy to provide any further clarification should you have any questions. Yours sincerely, Dr Raymond Dawson Chairman