HC Deb 20 November 2001 vol 375 cc201-2W
Mr. Peter Ainsworth

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to identify the long-term effects of nitrogen dioxide emissions on human health. [11730]

Margaret Beckett

[holding answer 1 November 2001]: The Department of Health has recently issued a call for research proposals which includes a request for a review of the effects of long-term exposure to nitrogen dioxide on health. In addition, the World Health Organisation will be reviewing the health effects of nitrogen dioxide in the next couple of years. The Government will assess the implications of these reviews when they have been completed, and will take full account of them in shaping any policy objectives for nitrogen dioxide that are set after that time.