Hazardous Substances Advisory Committee (HSAC)

The HSAC provides expert, objective advice on the science behind hazardous chemicals.

The Hazardous Substances Advisory Committee (HSAC) provides expert advice on how to protect the environment, and human health via the environment, from potentially hazardous substances and articles, including nanomaterials.

HSAC is the successor body to the Advisory Committee on Hazardous Substances (ACHS). ACHS was abolished on 22 July 2012, with the coming into force of the Advisory Committee on Hazardous Substances (Abolition) Order 2012 (Statutory Instrument No 2012/1923).

Terms of reference

Terms of reference (last updated November 2020)

PDF, 131KB, 3 pages

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Membership

Membership details

PDF, 104KB, 5 pages

Code of practice

Code of practice

PDF, 192KB, 10 pages

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Meetings

Meetings are open to the public. Please contact us if you would like to attend.

An agenda and papers for the meeting will be published here a few days before each meeting.

Next meeting:

• 16 March 2021
• 3 February 2021

Minutes and papers

• Twenty-eighth meeting: 16 December 2020 (ZIP, 1.97MB)
• Twenty-Seventh meeting: 10 November 2020 (ZIP, 2.5MB)
• Twenty-sixth meeting: 9 July 2020 (ZIP, 914KB)
• HSAC view on the risk to the marine environment of microplastic in leave-on cosmetic and domestic cleaning products (PDF, 189KB, 10 pages)
• Twenty-third meeting: 25 June 2019 (ZIP, 19.7MB)
• Twenty-second meeting: 11 September 2018 (ZIP, 1.18MB)

For minutes of previous meetings including for ACHS and other documents, please see The National Archives webpages.

Publications

• Twenty-fifth meeting: workshop agenda (10 February 2020) (PDF, 88KB, 1 page)
• Review of oxo-degradable plastics (PDF, 304KB, 20 pages)
• HSAC paper on definition of lifecycle/value chain in relation to nanomaterials and other manufactured substances (PDF, 246KB, 5 pages)
• HSAC working paper: guidance - characterising pharmaceutical of concern in the environment (PDF, 633KB, 8 pages)
• HSAC paper on key research questions in ecotoxicology (PDF, 315KB, 4 pages)

For earlier publications, please see The National Archives webpages.

Contact details

chemicals@defra.gov.uk