This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Britons are being exposed to a “cocktail of chemicals” from the womb onwards, with potentially life-threatening consequences, MPs have warned.

Ministers were accused of “sitting on their hands” while “unnecessary and potentially toxic” chemicals continued to enter people’s homes.

The Commons environmental audit committee (EAC) report raised particular concerns about flame-retardant chemicals used in home furnishings, with UK mothers having some of the world’s highest concentrations of the substances in their breast milk.

It also warned that “recent studies have discovered banned flame retardants in the umbilical cord blood of newborns”.

The EAC warned that since the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire Safety) Regulations 1988 were introduced, some of the most commonly used flame retardants had been classed as being of “very high concern”.

The report questioned the benefits of the substances, arguing that some can produce toxic smoke when exposed to fire.

Labour MP Mary Creagh, who chairs the EAC, said: “Most people assume that they aren’t at risk from toxic chemicals but the reality is different.

“Mums in the UK have some of the world’s highest concentrations of flame retardants in their breast milk, some of which have now been banned. Chemical flame retardants are still being widely used in our furnishings, from children’s mattresses to sofas. Meanwhile the government is sitting on its hands instead of changing regulations to ensure that the most toxic chemicals are taken out of use.”

The MPs called for the government to respond to a 2016 review of fire safety regulations before the new prime minister takes office on 24 July.

The EAC also raised concerns about the “huge number” of chemicals used in plastic and food packaging, “some of which have been identified as harmful to human health and the environment”.

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The MPs called for a UK-wide ban on the use in “food contact materials” of substances defined as being of high concern by European chemicals regulations.

The wide-ranging report called for biomonitoring to establish levels of chemical exposure in the UK population, and recommended a specific programme for residents and firefighters caught up in the Grenfell Tower fire.

“We are troubled by the lack of urgency in response to the findings of environmental contamination around the Grenfell Tower site,” the MPs said.

Residents have reported the emergence of “Grenfell cough” and health problems including vomiting, coughing up blood, skin complaints and breathing difficulties, the EAC said.

Creagh said: “We need to know the extent of people’s exposure to chemical contamination, which is why we are calling for a biomonitoring programme across the UK, with specific monitoring for residents around Grenfell Tower. Officials took more than a year to begin soil testing around the site of the fire after the first evidence of environmental contamination was found.”

The report also said chemicals were routinely used in products where their presence was not indicated on the label.

“Consumers have the right to know what chemicals are used in the products they purchase,” it said, arguing for reforms to labelling.

Professor Anna Stec, professor in fire chemistry and toxicity at the University of Central Lancashire, said the report should “signal a turning point in the UK’s approach to fire safety and toxicity”.

“In particular, it recognises the urgent need to quantify the toxicants that Grenfell residents and firefighters have been exposed to.

“To drive real change, fire safety testing of upholstered furniture and construction products should include an assessment of fire toxicity. This will avoid the use of chemical flame retardants that often cost less but make fires more toxic, so that lives are not needlessly put at risk in the future.”