Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether UK authorities routinely monitor all scientific literature for studies that show deleterious effects of hazardous chemicals.

The Environment Agency (EA) has developed a Prioritisation and Early Warning System (PEWS) for chemicals of emerging concern to ensure consideration of the potential risks of emerging chemicals including to surface waters (both freshwater and saline waters), groundwater and soils. The EA routinely monitors a sub-set of the scientific literature for determining which chemicals of emerging concern we should focus on as part of this work. The system allows the EA to sift and to screen any chemical substance nominated using, where available, hazard data and environmental monitoring data to prioritise whether a substance may be a possible chemical of concern in England.