§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what preliminary reports she has received from the advisory committee she set up on the assessment of exposure to air pollutants on health; when she hopes to have the committee's final conclusions; and if she will make a statement.
§ Mr. SackvilleI refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 10 June at columns221–22. The Advisory Group on the Medical Aspects of Air Pollution Episodes was set up to look at the short term health effects of exposure to specific air pollutants.
The Group's second report on "Sulphur Dioxide, Acid Aerosols and Particulates" is to be published shortly and a copy will be placed in the Library.
The group currently studying the oxides of nitrogen and its third report is expected to be published in 1993.
This year the Department also set up the committee on the medical effects of air pollutants which held its inaugural meeting at the end of May. Its terms of reference are:
73WAt the request of the Department of Health,(a) to assess and advise Government on the effects upon health of air pollutants both in indoor and outdoor air, and to assess the adequacy of the available data and the need for research.(b)to co-ordinate with other bodies concerned with the assessment of the effects of exposure to air pollutants and the associated risks to health and to advise on new scientific discoveries relevant to the effects of air pollutants upon health.The Department has asked the committee to advise on the link between exposure to low levels of air pollution and asthma, the effects of exposure to ambient levels of carbon monoxide in urban areas, and the effects of exposure to benzene.