Professor John Sweeney:

I will follow up on that point about high levels of nitrates in drinking water. The committee might be interested to know that a fairly radical piece of research was published recently. It was a study undertaken by the University of Copenhagen in conjunction with the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland. The study was published in a reputable journal and peer reviewed. It looked at a cohort of people in Denmark and 2018 and came up with a very strong link between the levels of nitrates in drinking water and instances of colorectal cancer. We have traditionally based our 50 mg limit on the blue baby syndrome and the problems of haemoglobin and so on but there are now emerging signs that even at levels well below that, there is a major increase in colorectal cancer. This particular study reports a 15% increase where people are exposed to levels above 9 mg/l when compared with people who have not been exposed to those kinds of levels in drinking water. That is coming down the line for the Commission and is another argument that will be used against the renewal of the directive for any country down the road. The study estimates the cost of increases in colorectal cancer at €300 million per year in lost working time, medical costs and so on. In addition to the ecological problems and concerns around biodiversity and so on, we are becoming increasingly aware of medical issues related to levels of nitrates in water well below the 50 mg/l limit and, in fact, well below the 10 mg/l.