ITV politics show finds that chemical pollution can be removed at the source, but business demands a cost-benefit analysis.

This episode of ITV's flagship current affairs show considers the issue of chemical pollution from British coal-fired power stations. A contemporary audience will notice the parallels with debates around climate change. The programme suggests that UK energy use is polluting the global atmospheric commons and adversely affecting places both at home: Loch Rannoch, Welsh lakes, Westminster Abbey; and abroad: Scandinavian watercourses, and German and Czech forests.

The business and government interests who offer comment are wary of expensive mitigations. They highlight uncertainty and doubt around the causal factors and call for pilot schemes, cost/benefit analyses and further research before taking action. Communist countries are blamed as the major polluters, the UK's responsibility is questioned, and acting unilaterally is declared liable to produce competitive disadvantages.

The solution proposed is legally-binding treaties made by the European Community or the United Nations. Both Liberal politician Simon Hughes and Labour's Jack Cunningham agree. Conservative Environment Minister William Waldegrave is interviewed by host Brian Walden and also appears minded to sign an international accord. The delay in doing so and the haggling on the terms of the agreement are presented as simply a pragmatic assertion of 'what you can do in what timescales'.