§ Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list all the chemical compounds which, within the last three years, have been banned from marketing, production or use in the United Kingdom as a consequence of their possible harmful effects on marine, freshwater or marine eco-systems.
§ Mr. WaldegraveThe objective of United Kingdom policy in protecting the aquatic environment is to ensure that concentrations of chemical substances do not reach unacceptable levels. Bans or restrictions on the manufacture, marketing or use are among the tools which are used in meeting this objective. Where restrictions on the marketing and use of chemical compounds are considered necessary to protect the aquatic environment, the United Kingdom prefers to work through international agencies.
In the last three years measures have been taken under an EC directive and a Paris commission decision further to restrict the marketing and use of PCBs and PCTs. Restrictions have also been introduced nationally on the supply of organotin-based antifouling paints and the Government are pressing for similar action in the European Economic Community.
§ Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list all private, corporate or Governmental sources of PCBs presently being discharged into fresh water, estuaries or marine eco-systems feeding the North sea.
§ Mr. WaldegraveI know of no point sources of discharge of PCBs to the aquatic environment in the United Kingdom. Under an EC directive (85/474/EEC) controlling the marketing and use of PCBs, these substances are now banned from new use throughout the EC member states and those countries within the Paris Commission. The appropriate United Kingdom regulation came into force on June 30 1986.
§ Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the policy of Her Majesty's Government towards the extent to which, within the framework of existing UK legislation, when uniform emission standards or environmental quality objectives are adopted, the best available technical means have to be, nationally or through international agreement, taken into account.
§ Mr. WaldegraveThe policy in the United Kingdom is to use the environmental quality objective approach. This316W approach does not always require the use of the best available technical means to reduce pollution. Under the daughter directives stemming from the directive on the control of discharges of certain substances into the aquatic environment, the use of best technical means available has to be taken into account for all new discharges. Water authorities are required to consult with my Department in such cases.