Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2019 to Question 213200 on Air Pollution and with reference to p165 of the World Health Organisation report, Review of evidence on health aspects of air pollution – REVIHAAP Project, if his Department will conduct research into PM1 and PM0.1.
Answered by Steve Brine
Recent assessments have been undertaken of the health effects of long-term exposure to the air pollution mixture in the United Kingdom, but no separate assessments of the impact of PM1 and PM0.1 components (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter smaller than 1 or 0.1 microns respectively) of particulate air pollution have been produced.
Public Health England (PHE) undertakes various air quality research projects, working with academic partners, to review the evidence of the health effects of air pollutants. In particular, regarding the health effects of PM0.1 and PM1, PHE has a research program that looks at various aspects of the health effects of PM0.1 (nanoparticles) through the inhalational route mainly focussed on manufactured materials. However, PHE has no plans to engage in work on the effects of PM1 particles on human health over the coming year.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2019 to Question 213200 and with reference to page six of the January 2013 report of the Health Effects Institute entitled Understanding the Health Effects of Ambient Ultrafine Particles, if he will implement the recommendations of that report on PM0.1 and PM1.
Answered by Steve Brine
Recent assessments have been undertaken of the health effects of long-term exposure to the air pollution mixture in the United Kingdom, but no separate assessments of the impact of PM1 and PM0.1 components (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter smaller than 1 or 0.1 microns respectively) of particulate air pollution have been produced.
Public Health England (PHE) undertakes various air quality research projects, working with academic partners, to review the evidence of the health effects of air pollutants. In particular, regarding the health effects of PM0.1 and PM1, PHE has a research program that looks at various aspects of the health effects of PM0.1 (nanoparticles) through the inhalational route mainly focussed on manufactured materials. However, PHE has no plans to engage in work on the effects of PM1 particles on human health over the coming year.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2019 to Question 212585 on Air Pollution: Health Hazards, what steps (a) his Department and (b) Public Health England are taking to compile sufficient evidence to enable further quantification.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP) work programme is agreed annually to ensure this meets changing priorities. The committee is not scheduled to engage in further work on the differential health effects of particulate air pollution according to source or components. The Committee’s work programme is reviewed annually to ensure that the work is based on existing priorities. Current topics being considered by COMEAP are available at the following link:
Recent assessments have been undertaken of the health effects of long-term exposure to the air pollution mixture in the United Kingdom. This was based on studies reporting associations of mortality risk with fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nitrogen-dioxide-effects-on-mortality
Recent reviews by the Health Effects Institute and World Health Organization of the effects of different components of air pollution, including ultrafine particles (PM0.1), concluded that there is currently limited evidence on the effects on health of ultrafine particles. These reviews can be viewed at the following links:
https://www.healtheffects.org/publication/understanding-health-effects-ambient-ultrafine-particles
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report entitled, Statement on the evidence for differential health effects of particulate matter according to source or component, published by COMEAP in March 2015, if he will direct (a) Public Health England and (b) COMEAP to commission research into the levels of toxicity of particulate matter from different sources.
Answered by Steve Brine
Public Health England (PHE) and the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants keeps their advice under review in light of new substantial research on the health effects of incinerators and other particulate emitting processes published in peer review journals, which can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/comeap-reports
To date, PHE is not aware of any evidence that requires a change in its position statement.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what comparative assessment (a) his Department and (b) Public Health England has made of the health effects of (a) PM 0.1 and (b) PM 1 in those parts of England (i) with and (ii) without waste incineration plants.
Answered by Steve Brine
Recent assessments have been undertaken of the health effects of long-term exposure to the air pollution mixture in the United Kingdom. This was based on studies reporting associations of mortality risk with fine particulate matter (PM2.5), which includes PM1 and PM0.1, and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), available to view at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nitrogen-dioxide-effects-on-mortality
Public Health England funded a study to further extend the evidence base as to whether emissions from modern municipal waste incinerators (MWIs) affect human health. Study outputs concluded that the amount of particulate matter people are exposed to from MWI emissions is very low in Great Britain. The document can be viewed at the following link:
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.6b06478
No comparison has been made of PM emissions in areas with or without MWIs as overall they contribute very little to the emissions of particulate matter.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 16 January 2019 to Question 206215 on Air Pollution, what the implications for his policies are of the statement in the Public Health England report, published in March 2017, entitled Air Quality A Briefing for Directors of Public Health that PM is inhaled into the lungs and ultrafine PM0.1 is thought to pass into the blood causing many adverse outcomes including systemic inflammation.
Answered by Steve Brine
Public Health England (PHE) has developed a programme to support national and local government to reduce the burden of disease attributable to air pollution. This includes awareness raising, developing the evidence base on the health effects of air pollution and interventions aiming to reduce exposure to air pollution and provide wider public health benefits.
PHE undertakes various air quality research projects, working with academic partners, to review the evidence for the health effects of air pollutants. PHE is a partner in two health protection research units (HPRU) funded by the National Institute for Health Research, whose remit includes air pollution research: The Health impact of Environmental Hazards HPRU and the HPRU in Environmental Change and Health. Further information can be found at the following links:
http://www.hpru-ech.nihr.ac.uk/
None of the research projects specifically focus on PM0.1 but address air pollution components which are included in this category.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
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).
Answered by Steve Brine
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:
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.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what sites (a) his Department and (b) Public Health England maintain to monitor the effects on (i) air quality and (ii) human health of emissions of (A) PM0.1, (B) PM 1 and (C) PM2.5.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department and Public Health England do not maintain sites monitoring the effects air pollutants on air quality or health.
The Environment Agency manages the United Kingdom’s national air quality monitoring sites on behalf of the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the devolved administrations.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has considered the implications for (a) public health and (b) air quality posed by the findings of the monitoring of PM10 emissions carried out by St Stephen-in-Brannel Parish Council in Cornwall.
Answered by Steve Brine
No routine assessment has been made by the Department or Public Health England on the monitoring of particulate matter 10 (PM10) emissions undertaken by St Stephen-in-Brannel Parish Council in Cornwall.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Transport on the costs incurred by the NHS in treating conditions caused by air pollution arising from different forms of transport.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care meets with the Secretary of State for Transport regularly to discuss a variety of Government issues.