Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what advice and guidance (a) the Department, (b) the Environment Agency, (c) the Government's Advisory Committee on Hazardous Substances and (d) the Drinking Water Inspectorate has issued on the use of perfluorooctane sulphonate. [70022] Ian Pearson: DEFRA, and the Government's Advisory Committee on Hazardous Substances have not issued any guidance on the use of perflurooctane sulfonate. However, a European Commission proposal for a Directive (76/769/EC), relating to restrictions on the marketing and use of perfluorooctane sulfonates (PFOSs) is currently being negotiated. While the UK welcomes the proposals we do not feel that they go far enough, and the UK is now aiming to strengthen these proposals by working through a co-decision process at EU level. We have reached agreement with member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on the hazard profile of PFOS see www.oecd.org/dataoecd/23/18/2382880.pdf. We are also working to have PFOS agreed as a persistent organic pollutant and subject to international controls under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and the UNECE Protocol on Persistent Organic Pollutants. This is a longer term aim. The Environment Agency has not issued advice or guidance on the use of PFOS. It has however requested that it be phased out on the basis of its toxicty to the environment and humans. While the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) has not issued specific advice or guidance on the use of PFOS, it has provided advice to organisations involved in the response to the Buncefield fire on the regulation of PFOS in drinking water. A value of three microgrammes per litre was provided by the DWI to the Three Valleys water company as reflecting the best available evidence on which the water company can base its judgment of wholesomeness and safety, and the actions, if any, that it may need to take to safeguard drinking water quality going forward. The current national advice provided by the Health Protection Agency is that it appears unlikely that a lifetime's consumption of drinking-water containing concentrations of up to three micrograms of PFOs per litre would harm human health. | 
