There is still much to be worked out in terms of the UK’s regulation of the chemicals sector once the country leaves the EU, and one thing that’s currently under consideration is introducing a programme of human biomonitoring.
Chemical Watch revealed that the idea is on the table as part of a post-Brexit chemicals strategy, according to a junior minister.
The UK is currently part of an EU-wide programme, HBM4EU, which is due to end in 2021, but no plans have been announced about what will follow. Germany has its own human biomonitoring programme, as does Canada and the US.
A national biomonitoring programme such as this would be set up to establish baseline levels for measuring the effect of toxic chemicals on a country’s population. To do this, any programme would need to collect and analyse biological samples from people around the country.
Head of toxicology at Public Health England (PHE) Tim Gant, who is involved with coordinating the UK’s input to HBM4EU, said that he would “certainly support” the introduction of this kind of monitoring.
“Exposure is often the bit we have the most trouble understanding and biomonitoring is useful for that,” he explained.
However, due to the work needed to prepare for Brexit, including a potential no-deal scenario, much of the work in this area has stalled in recent months. Professor Gant told the news provider that PHE would like the initial focus of any human biomonitoring to be on carcinogenic and reprotoxic substances.
Retailers, including Amazon and Ikea, were recently brought in front of an Environmental Audit Committee hearing looking at how products containing chemicals of concern came to be sold through the retailers.
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