The scale of the law changes means environmental legislation in the UK is facing death by a thousand cuts Brexit divergence from EU destroying UK’s environmental protections Northern Ireland ‘dirty corner of Europe due to lack of governance’ Although the UK’s regression from EU environmental standards, revealed by the Guardian, seems very technical, the scale of the law changes means environmental legislation in Britain is facing death by a thousand cuts. In practice, changes by the EU that the UK is not following and planned divergences from EU law will mean toxic chemicals banned in the EU will be allowed to be used in the UK, the UK will reduce greenhouse gas emissions more slowly, its waters will be dirtier, and consumer products will be more likely to contribute to global deforestation. Here are some of the main differences: Chemical regulations Law change: The UK has left the EU chemical regulation body, called EU Reach, which works quickly to ban substances found to be toxic to human health. After Brexit , the UK started its own smaller version, called UK Reach. Eight rules restricting the use of hazardous chemicals have been adopted by the EU since Brexit, and a further 16 are in the pipeline. The UK, however, has not banned any substances in that time and is considering only two restrictions: on lead ammunition, and harmful substances in tattoo ink. Bans on chemicals are generally preceded by a listing on the Reach bodies’ “substances of very high concern” list. The last additions to the UK’s list were made more than three years ago, in June 2020. Since then, the European Chemicals Agency has added 26 substances to its equivalent list. These are primarily substances that are carcinogenic or affect the reproductive system, as well as being persistent in […]
Click here to visit source. The UK environmental protections dropped since Brexit