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. If your home was built before 1970, there's a chance it will have lead pipes. Lead can build up in the body infants including unborn babies and children are at particular risk because lead can have an adverse impact on mental development and can be a factor in behavioural problems. In adults it may impair kidney, heart and circulatory health.

In 1969 it eventually became illegal to use lead pipes in water supplies. 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 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