Chemicals regulation in the UK is broken. Businesses, academics and the public have all told us about their problems with the current chaotic system. The most recent chemicals strategy wasn’t published this century.

We are campaigning to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, commonly known as DDT is an insecticide that was used extensively towards the end of the second world war and thereafter was promoted as a household and industrial pesticide. DDT has been seen to disrupt ecosystems, lead to eggshell thinning in birds and is considered a likely human carcinogen.

DDT was eventually banned in the UK in 1984. A better regulatory system in the UK could help recognise and act on risks faster and more decisively, to lessen the impacts of future chemical health and environmental crises.

A national Chemicals Agency is needed to help get things back on track and help the UK on the path to becoming a science superpower.

Such a body would supercharge our ability to:
Protect human health and the environment against both short and longerterm risks across the life cycle of chemicals.

Drive innovation and economic growth by giving businesses and researchers clarity over what is required of them, adapting promptly to new developments in testing and risk mitigation, and facilitating international trade agreements.

Deliver taxpayer value for money by maximising coordination across government, with a wellresourced and skilled staff, to deliver a ‘one substance, one assessment’ approach.

Read our report at rsc.li/agency