Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

I will certainly do my best to shed some light, but the noble Lord will appreciate as much as the noble Baroness who moved the amendment that we are discussing some unknown factors here, on which substantial research is still to be carried out. I understand the importance of the noble Baroness’s amendment, but she will know that the clause enables the licensing authority, at anyone’s request, to perform tests to ascertain the affected substances on the marine environment and to charge for that testing. Substances that she rightly identified as covered by the provision are those that have the purpose of treating oil, chemicals, algae or other living or dead organisms that may foul the surface. The purpose of this clause is that, once tested and found to have an acceptably low impact on the marine environment, approved substances can be added to the exemptions order, meaning that they can be applied in emergency situations without the need for obtaining a marine licence first. The purpose for which these substances are put to use is therefore central to whether or not they should be tested by the licensing authority. To that list the noble Baroness is adding nanosubstances. There are considerable uncertainties about the toxicity, behaviour and effects of nanomaterials in environmental media, and the UK currently has in place a moratorium on the use of these substances and applications for environmental remediation, because we are not certain about their impact. It may be that the future will demonstrate that nanosubstances can indeed be a helpful method for treating chemicals, oil or fouling material on the sea, seabed or structures under Clause 104. They would then be classified under one of the terms in subsection (1) as a marine chemical treatment substance, a marine oil treatment substance or a marine surface fouling cleaner. That would allow the licensing authority to test the environmental effects associated with using nanosubstances for those purposes, with a view to exempting them from the need for a marine licence and the deployment in clean-up situations. Anyone who wants to deposit a nanosubstance in the marine environment for non-clean-up or emergency situations should require a marine licence, as they would for any other substance. The noble Baroness sought to press the Government on how far we had got in resolving uncertainties. We are committed to the responsible development of nanotechnologies, and we will work with all interested parties to develop a suitable strategy that addresses both the exploitation of the technologies and the management of any potential risks to which they give rise. There is, however, continuing uncertainty over the properties and behaviour of manufactured nanomaterials, which make it difficult to determine accurately the extent of hazard and exposure. The recently launched second phase of the Environmental Nanoscience Initiative, a jointly funded research programme between the United Kingdom and the United States, aims to improve understanding of the fate and behaviour, ecotoxicology and ecological effects of engineering nanoparticles in environmental systems. The programme aims to develop conceptual modelling scenarios for environmental exposures, thereby identifying critical exposure points. As I have already had criticism this afternoon, in the social science context, on the basis that "holistic" is not entirely acceptable in this House—what does it mean?—I am wilting a little as I describe the nature of this research and the investigation we are carrying out. I am afraid that the House will have to accept these terms from me as I have no others to put in their place. The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution’s recent report, Novel Materials in the Environment: the case of nanotechnology, called for a larger and more co-ordinated effort, led by the research councils, to address uncertainties about the behaviour and effects on nanomaterials on human health and in the environment, and the Government’s response to this report will be available in late spring. That is the best I can do to enlighten the noble Baroness, and, indeed, the noble Lord. They will fully appreciate that we are dealing here with an area in which there are still very substantial uncertainties. I accept entirely the noble Baroness’s point that we ought not to close off potentialities, but she will also recognise our anxieties about including in the Bill a specific reference to concepts upon which very substantial research is still necessary, on which the Government have not yet got a firm view and upon which there is still a moratorium on deployment. The noble Baroness has succeeded, by moving this amendment, in pushing the Government as far as they can go in identifying possibilities in these terms at this stage. I hope she will recognise why we are reluctant to, and in fact cannot, accept the amendment and that she will feel able to withdraw it with the confidence that the Government are taking this technology very seriously. There is very substantial research going on, but we are not at the point of reaching judgment as yet.