§ 11. Mr. Loveysasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will take steps to ensure that sodium chlorate is sold in such a form as to make it less effective as an explosive compound.
§ The Joint Under-Secretary of State to the Home Department (Mr. C. M. Woodhouse)My right hon. Friend appreciates the seriousness of the problem to which my hon. Friend refers, and he is taking 645 action in a number of ways to reduce the possibilities of the misuse of this substance.
§ Mr. LoveysWhile appreciating the substance of that reply, may I ask my hon. Friend whether, in view of the alarming number of accidents which are occurring through the misuse of this compound, it could be mixed with a liquified substance which would not impair its use as a weed killer but which would make it less effective as an explosive?
§ Mr. WoodhouseThat possibility has been examined and tests have been conducted on behalf of the Home Office Explosives Branch, but they have shown that if would still be quite easy for anyone to dry it out and use it for explosive purposes unless the solution were so diluted as to make it virtually useless as a weed killer. Nevertheless, we are taking steps through manufacturers, distributors and retailers to make sure that the dangers are widely known.