20th Report - Toxic Chemicals in Everyday Life

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government responds to each recommendation in turn, largely pointing to its forthcoming Chemicals Strategy and existing regulation, while declining some proposals such as landfill and incineration bans and a blanket ban on substances of very high concern in food contact materials.

• A Chemicals Strategy is under development: a discussion document is to be published in March 2020 with a call for evidence, and the final Strategy is "expected to be published in 2021/2".
• On biomonitoring, the government says it "will continue to explore the best approach" and that the Strategy will "explore options for further biomonitoring programmes". It does not commit to a UK-wide programme.
• On furniture fire safety, the government intends to develop revised regulations to replace the 1988 Regulations "by autumn 2021", and "will consult on the detail of the new regulations in due course".
• The government states it "believes that positive approaches are more effective than imposing landfill and incineration bans", and says a blanket ban on substances of very high concern in food contact materials is "perhaps overly simplistic".

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error