Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the effect on (a) public health and (b) air quality of the conclusions of the peer reviewed article by Prof Yu Shang et al entitled Cytotoxicity comparison between fine particles emitted from the combustion of municipal solid waste and biomass published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials No 367 (2019).

Assessments of the risks of pollutants to health are informed by the weight of the available evidence, rather than being undertaken on the basis of an individual study. The Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants advised that, although it is unlikely that all components of particulate matter have the same potency in causing health effects, the available evidence is insufficient to allow further quantification. Further information is available at the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/411762/COMEAP_The_evidence_for_differential_health_effects_of_particulate_matter_according_to_source_or_components.pdf

When consulted, Public Health England provides an expert and independent opinion to the regulator, Environment Agency, on the potential impacts including from particulate matter, on human health of emissions arising from existing or proposed regulated facilities, such as those investigated in this study.