Chapter 4 Reducing and managing risks

We live in times of international uncertainty, major environmental change and economic transition.

4.1 Risks come in many forms. DEFRA has a role to play with others in providing all citizens with access to healthy food, air and water; and safe places to live and work. To do this we must understand and anticipate risks and hazards, weigh priorities and have credible contingency plans in place. With other departments, local authorities and private businesses, we must ensure the continuity of essential supplies of food and water in case of terrorist attack or war. We are also responsible for assessing the risks to people and the environment of pollutants and environmental impacts such as climate change where humans may be accelerating or causing the change. With effectiveness, safety and environmental impact in mind, we examine agricultural pesticides, veterinary products and novel (such as genetically-modified) crops. We are committed to sound science underpinning our risk assessments. Often, we know too little about the social impacts of our work and we must improve the knowledge base behind this as we are doing for rural areas.

Already we have:

• • introduced a greatly expanded BSE (cattle) testing programme as part of the EU initiative to give a more accurate idea of the incidence of the disease;

• launched a national scrapie plan and started genotyping to reduce and eventually eradicate scrapie. We have increased scrapie compensation to encourage more reporting;

• jointly sponsored a successful EU conference on the control and prevention of foot and mouth disease, including the use of vaccination.

• completed the first stages of farm-scale evaluations of the effects on wildlife of growing genetically-modified crops;

• launched a consultation on the future handling of radioactive waste; and

• funded substantial high quality research and development on product quality and safety and animal welfare.

4.2 DEFRA handles risk across all its responsibilities and we will this year publish a risk framework document that describes the procedures we use for reaching decisions on risk. We use risk management to identify threats to reaching our objectives, not just to reduce ‘risks to people’.

Risks to people in the environment

4.3 Clean air is essential to people’s health and the environment. DEFRA contributes to the Government’s air quality strategy which has objectives and targets to protect and improve everyone’s air quality in the UK without imposing unacceptable social or economic costs. The strategy describes current pollution and sets objectives for reducing concentrations of the worst air pollutants.

4.4 Over the last year, we led in Europe on the Sustainable Production and Use of Chemicals, building on the UK Strategy. We regulate the safety of pesticides to people and the environment and will play a leading role in the review of the relevant EU legislation. We will monitor pesticide residues in food and the environment and take effective enforcement action to prevent misuse when necessary.

4.5 On 12 September, jointly with the devolved administrations, we published our consultation paper Managing Radioactive Waste Safely. This began a national programme of debate and research which paves the way for a decision on how to manage solid radioactive waste over the thousands of years during which it may pose a major hazard. Should it be stored on the surface, buried deep underground, or elsewhere? We are encouraging a wide variety of organisations and people, ranging from the young to the retired, to contribute to the debate, particularly if they have not been involved in nuclear issues in the past. Our consultation focuses on ‘how’ before we tackle ‘where’.

What we will do:

• We will press for the development of a new European Union package on the regulation of chemicals by 2002, minimising animal testing and with action on those which cause concern.

• We will continue to implement the UK Strategy on the Sustainable Use and Production of Chemicals to protect people from danger.

• We will continue to play a leading role in improving air quality within Europe and internationally.

DEFRA’s approach to risk

It is never possible to eliminate all risks. However, we must reduce risks to an acceptable or tolerable level, and we will do this in an open and transparent way. Where there is uncertainty, we will apply the precautionary principle and we will provide information and education to explain the decisions that we take. We will work with others across government on contingency planning and disaster recovery plans, especially for terrorist attacks on our water and food supply chain. We will act to protect the vulnerable against risks they cannot protect themselves from, and society against risks that affect us all. Others also have a responsibility to manage risks to their businesses and interests. We will also protect the environment and natural resources from risks. Finally, risk is about threats and opportunities – we need to take calculated risks to meet our objectives and release innovation.

• We will implement flexibly EU requirements to reduce emissions of three key air pollutants (SO2, NOx and PM10) from major industrial plant and power stations.

• We will work with the agricultural chemicals industry on our joint agreement on voluntary measures to reduce the environmental impact of pesticides.

• We will press for changes in the EU pesticide authorisation directive to improve public access to information and public participation in the regulatory process.

• We will publish the results from the analysis of 4,000 food samples for pesticide residues each year.

• We will continue to press the cause of good, proportionate and properly appraised regulation within the EU, and to implement this at minimum costs to tax-payers and business.

Risks from flooding and coastal erosion

4.6 Managing the risk of flooding and coastal erosion is a core part of DEFRA’s work, which we will deliver in partnership with the Environment Agency, local authorities and internal drainage boards. We want people and businesses to have the confidence to live and invest in areas where flooding and coastal erosion risks are successfully managed. DEFRA brings together policy on floods, climate change, sewerage and water quality for the first time, enabling us to address them together. We encourage environmental enhancement through flood and coastal defence works, such as the creation of coastal or inland wildlife habitats. We will also look for opportunities to work with farmers, for example by aligning agricultural policies and incentives with the need to create flood storage.

4.7 A strategic research and development programme supports our understanding of flood risks, while we promote simultaneously local strategies for managing risk on the coast and from rivers. Our investment in flood and coastal defences and flood warning systems reduces risk to life from flooding and also reduces the economic impacts of floods. In 2000, floods affected 10,000 properties out of a possible 300,000 at direct risk, and no lives were lost.

What we will do:

• DEFRA will take forward the conclusions of the review of flood and coastal defence funding. Risks from animal and plant disease

4.8 Continuing public concern about BSE and its links to the human brain disorder variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) show how necessary it is to focus on protecting public health from diseases which can be transmitted through food and animals. And last year’s foot and mouth disease outbreak demonstrated how animal diseases can impact on the economy and the environment, as well as on animal health and welfare.

4.9 The Phillips inquiry into BSE emphasised that we should take precautionary action if the existence of a hazard is uncertain. We are putting this principle into action. Building on the conclusions of the Phillips inquiry and the Policy Commission on Food and Farming, and taking account of the Lessons Learned and Royal Society inquiries into the foot andmouth disease epidemic, we will develop an integrated animal health regime. This will depend on involving stakeholders, including the livestock industry and private veterinary practitioners; on close co-operation with partners in government, especially the Department of Health, in the devolved administrations and in the EU; and on a firm scientific underpinning, based in part on our own research. We shall ensure that the UK’s experience of the 2001 outbreak informs discussions in the EU and Office International des Epizooties – the world organisation for animal health – on future strategies for dealing with foot and mouth disease, including the potential role of vaccination. We would also expect the conclusions of the FMD Conference in Brussels in December 2001, which the UK co-sponsored, to be reflected in deliberations on a new FMD Directive. Revised foot and mouth disease contingency plans

4.10 As a result of lessons learned in this outbreak of foot and mouth disease, and pending the outcome of the inquiries, we are updating our existing operational contingency plans. The plans codify and pull together the operational response regime that was developed during the recent outbreak and cover the establishment of national and local disease control centres and their resources and staffing, provision of disposal facilities, and co-ordination with other departments and stakeholders. They update existing standard veterinary operating procedures and instructions and local office contingency plans. Closure of footpaths will be minimised and will only happen following recommendations of a veterinary risk assessment.

4.11 We will consult stakeholders on the updated plans; and place them on the DEFRA website to keep all those with an interest informed. We will run operational exercises to check that the plans work and improve them where necessary. Reducing BSE and scrapie

4.12 We continue to make progress in eradicating BSE in cattle and the number of BSE cases in Great Britain is falling year on year. With our partners we remain committed to completing the task. For the future, we will maintain and as necessary develop policies to continue our progress, in the light of new epidemiological data, BSE testing results, research and independent scientific advice from the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC).

4.13 The National Scrapie Plan (NSP) for Great Britain forms part of the Government’s strategy for managing the as yet theoretical risk of BSE in sheep. The Plan’s objective is to reduce and eradicate scrapie-like disease from the national sheep flock. We began with the Plan’s launch in July 2001.

4.14 In September 2001, we issued for public consultation a draft contingency plan for BSE in sheep. The plan forms part of the Government’s precautionary approach for risk management and the protection of public health. It describes a menu of actions allowing us to respond flexibly and quickly to the wide variety of scenarios that might apply in the event of a BSE-type crisis in sheep. The plan will be revised and made publicly available in spring 2002. Pet Travel Scheme

4.15 In early 2000 we introduced the Pet Travel Scheme, enabling dogs and cats from certain countries and meeting certain conditions to enter the UK without the need for six months’ quarantine. This was not a decision taken lightly, given the risk of importing rabies. We will continue to keep the scheme and its coverage under review to assess the risks and take account of developments at the European level.

What we will do:

• We will monitor the animal disease situation worldwide and at home and will devise and implement a new Veterinary Surveillance Strategy.

• We will develop risk management strategies and contingency plans for both exotic and other endemic diseases, especially those with public health implications or serious economic and social.

• We will strengthen quality assurance in our research work by applying risk management to all our research.

• We will consider and respond to the reports of the Lessons Learned and Royal Society inquiries into the foot and mouth disease outbreak in 2001.

DEFRA’s objective is:

• To protect the public’s interest in relation to environmental impacts and health, including in relation to diseases which can be transmitted through food, water and animals, and to ensure high standards of animal health and welfare.

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