§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has for the development of comparative risk assessment for high-risk chemicals; what the timescale is for each of the steps envisaged; and if she will list the chemicals to which it is intended to apply this system. [132454]
§ Alun MichaelWhen putting in place measures to reduce the risks of high-risk substances we consider the availability of substitutes and their hazards to ensure that the best option is taken. This is done following guidance set out by the EU and we currently have no plans to further develop this. The full examination to reduce risks—which includes this comparison—is divided into a five-stage process and generally takes between six and nine months. This process is applied494W to chemicals which have been demonstrated to be a high risk and examples of those completed include: short chain chlorinated paraffins, octa and penta bromodiphenyl ether, bis phenol A and nonyl phenol ethoxylate.