HC Deb 18 December 1956 vol 562 c1092
43. Mr. Dodds

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he will make a statement on the Report of the Committee on Synthetic Detergents.

Mr. Sandys

Since the Answer is rather lengthy, I will, with permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Mr. Dodds

While thanking the right hon. Gentleman for at last doing something, may I ask him whether he can state whether, in view of the evidence that detergents can be harmful to hands during washing up, and also when dishes are not rinsed in clean water, he proposes to take action to ensure that manufacturers will place a warning to that effect on the containers so that housewives, and husbands who help them, will be protected from possible dermatitis?

Mr. Sandys

That is a different question.

Mr. Dodds

It is all part of the same thing.

Following is the Answer: To begin with, I should like to express my appreciation of the valuable work done by the Committee. Its main conclusion was that the use of synthetic detergents is, or could be, a source of difficulty in sewage disposal, river purification and water supply. It recommended research, by manufacturers and others concerned, aimed at finding means of ensuring that these substances would be destroyed during sewage treatment. I have received assurances on behalf of the industrial interests that they are prepared to co-operate fully in this effort, and I am about to appoint, in consultation with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland, a Standing Technical Committee to secure that the desired research is carried out effectively. The terms of reference of the Standing Technical Committee will he as follows:— to keep under review the difficulties, or risk of difficulty, arising in sewage works, rivers and water supply as a result of the use of synthetic detergents; to encourage, and assist the co-ordination of, appropriate research by manufacturers of detergents and intermediate materials, and by suitable public bodies, into methods by which those difficulties, or risks of difficulty, could, without an undue burden on public funds be avoided or overcome; and to report progress at least once a year.