Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution RCEP

Before standards for indoor exposure to radon can be formally established, work is necessary to determine whether remedies are feasible and what is likely to be involved. Meanwhile, the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP) in the UK has considered standards for indoor exposure to radon decay products (RCEP, 1984). For existing dwellings, the RCEP has recommended an action level of 25 mSv in a year and that priority should be given to devising effective remedial measures. An effective dose equivalent of 25 mSv per year is taken to correspond to an average radon concentration of about 900 Bq m 3 or an average radon decay-product concentration of about 120 mWL, with the assumption of an equilibrium factor of 0.5 and an occupancy factor of 0.83. 

Because of the first of these uncertainties (the extrapolation across species), assessments of risks to human health apply an uncertainty or safety factor of 100 to the experimentally derived no observed adverse effect concentration (NOAEC), in other words the NOAEC is divided by 100 to derive a no-effect level for human toxicity. This factor has been used since 1961, when it was chosen on an essentially arbitrary basis (RCEP, 2003, p22). In the assessment of risks to the environment, application factors of 10, 50, 100 or 1000 are applied to the results of tests carried out on specific species,2 depending on the species used and whether the tests were long term or short term. Evidence to the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP) for their report Chemicals in products indicated that these are merely extrapolation factors — they express the statistical variability of test results but do not effectively take into account inter-species variability, the vulnerability of threatened species, lifetime exposures or the complexity of biological systems... 

This chapter shows that other information must also be considered before an environmental standard can be implemented successfully. The implementation of standards cannot be a totally science-based issue technical, social, and economic factors must also be considered. Critically, as discussed in Chapter 2, the legal or policy context must be clear from the start, and a standard based on scientific knowledge should then be applied to a specific policy context. However, in most situations there are few data and an incomplete understanding, which leads to uncertainty in the standard itself and, potentially, to its application. This uncertainty must be accounted for if a standard is to be applied consistently and fairly (Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution [RCEP] 1998). 

A more detailed criticism of the use of tonnage triggers is provided by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP) in its publication Chemicals in Products [166]. 

Draft Minutes of a meeting held on the 2-3 September 2004 at Church House, Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP), London, UK, 2004. 

RCEP Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, Tackling Pollution - Experience and Prospects, Tenth Report, HMSO, London (1984). 

In the UK chemicals strategy the statement The Government is very concerned that we do not have adequate information about the hazards of most chemicals released into the environment in large quantities is emphasized in bold in section 1.7 (DETR, 1999). The EU strategy states that The lack of knowledge about the impact of many chemicals on human health and the environment is a cause for concern (CEC, 2001, p4). The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution held an inquiry into chemicals that reported in 2003. They consider that our failure to understand the interactions between synthetic chemicals and the natural environment, and most of all our failure to compile even the most basic information about the behaviour of chemicals in the environment, is a serious matter (RCEP, 2003, pi). 

Ramsey, F. P. (1931) Truth and probability , in R. B. Rraithwaite (ed) The Foundations of Mathematics and Other Logical Essays, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London RCEP (Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution) (1998) Twenty-first report Setting environmental standards, Stationery Office, London RCEP (2003) Twenty-fourth Report Chemicals in Products — Safeguarding the Environment and Human Health, TSO, London... 

ODPM (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister) (2005) The planning system General principles , published alongside PPS1, www.communities.gov.uk, accessed December 2006 RCEP (Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution) (2003) Twenty-fourth report ... 

RCEP] Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. 1998. Setting environmental standards. 21st report. London HMSO. Available from http //www.rcep.org.uk/reports/21-standards/document. Accessed 23 June 2009. 

Pollution from diffuse sources can be effectively tackled by taxing polluting products and wastes [216, 245]. Examples of chemical taxes include chlorinated solvents in Denmark and Norway [246] and phthalates in articles on the Danish market [269]. The European Environment Agency [245] and the EIK Royal Commission for Environmental Pollution (RCEP) [180] suggest developing new tax bases for hazardous chemicals. The European Commission s Integrated Product Policy also proposes taxation to promote environmentally sound practices through supply chains [247]. 

QSAR R D RCEP Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship(s) Research and Development Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (UK)... 

Against this backdrop, new studies examining human levels of toxic chemicals -so-called body burden - are continually being published. A 2003 study confirmed the presence of 116 industrial chemicals, most of which are toxic in laboratory animals, in the bodies of average Americans (CDC, 2003). A similar study found even more chemicals in the body of nine volunteers of the 167 chemicals measured, 76 cause cancer in humans or animals, 94 are toxic to the brain and nervous system, and 79 cause birth defects or abnormal development (EWG, 2002). The United Kingdom s Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution has recommended that where synthetic chemicals are found in elevated concentrations in biological fluids such as breast milk they should be removed from the market immediately (RCEP, 2003). 

Quarrie, J (1992) Earth Summit 92 - The United Nations Conference on Environment and Drevelopment, Rio de Janeiro. Regency Press, London RCEP (Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution) (1976) Air pollution control an integrated approach. Fifth Report, Cmnd 6371. HMSO, London. RCEP (Royal Commision on Environmental Pollution) (1984) Tackling pollution - Experience and prospects. 10 report, Cmnd 9149 RCEP (Royal Commission on Environmentai PoWution) (1988) BestPrtwticable Environmental Option. 12 Report, Cm 310. HMSO, London. 

RCEP Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (1991). GENHAZ A System for the Critical Appraisal of Proposals to Release Genetically Modified Organisms into the Environment, Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution I4th report, June, cm 1557, ISBN 0-10-115572-7 HMSO, London. 

---