§ Norman BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the total amount of recognised carcinogens released to the air was in(a) England and (b) each government region in each year since 1997. [143759]
§ Mr. BradshawThe National Atmospheric Emission Inventory (available on line http://www.naei.org.uk/) compiles annual air pollutant emissions for the United Kingdom. The most recent year for which emissions have been calculated is 2001. Emissions of four known or probable human carcinogens are calculated: benzene, 1,3-butadiene, benzo[a]pyrene and dioxins. Table 1 shows the national annual emissions since 1997 taken from the National Atmospheric Emission Inventory.
Emissions are generally calculated using statistics that are available on a national scale (e.g. fuel use). Inventory experts are gathering the regional information in order to undertake the complex process of calculating regional 91W totals. So far, emissions for England have been calculated for 1997 to 2001 (Table 2), but emissions for each Government region are not yet available.
Table 1 UK emissions 1997–2001 Units 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 Benzene kt 35.8 31.7 28.7 15.7 15.4 1,3-Butadiene kt 7.3 6.4 5.9 5.1 4.5 BaP tgTE 11.2 9.7 8.6 6.7 7.2 Dioxins Q 471 411 395 346 341
Table 2 England emissions for 1997–2001 Units 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 Benzene Kt 27.4 24.3 22.0 12.0 11.8 1,3-Butadiene kt 6.0 5.3 4.8 4.2 3.7 BaP t 9.4 8.2 7.3 5.6 6.1 Dioxins gTEQ 376 328 315 276 272 Notes:
- (a) BaP = benzo[a]pyrene (a carcinogen in its own right and a marker for carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ambient air);
- (b) The term dioxin refers to a range of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin and polychlorinated dibenzofuran compounds. The emissions of dioxins are presented in terms of the sum of the weighted emissions expressed as gTEQs. TEQs weight the toxicity of the less toxic congeners as fractions of the toxicity of 2,3,7,8-TCDD, the most toxic congener.