FARM AND GARDEN CHEMICALS (Hansard, 25 January 1966)

§ Mrs. Joyce Butler (Wood Green)

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make provision for the labelling of farm and garden chemicals, and matters related thereto. My attempts to introduce this Bill under the Ten Minute Rule are now becoming something of a hardy annual and I hope that my persistence in attempting to obtain more informative labelling of pesticides will at least match the persistence of the residues of these chemicals themselves.

We sometimes forget that, in this country, we are not living in a primitive environment beset with insect plagues on every hand. Our circumstances are quite different from those of other countries. We are living in a crowded, mainly urban community in which it is essential to preserve the right balance between humans and animals alike and between food production and public health and to keep a close guard on modern developments in agriculture from the point of view of public health.

The chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides which are the main concern of the Bill have been through an interesting and revealing history. When they were first introduced they were widely welcomed and used enthusiastically and it was only when birds began to die in considerable numbers after eating dressed spring-sown wheat seed that the possible dangers began to be appreciated.

Despite all the research which had been undertaken by the trade before these products were launched on the market, it was a scientific surprise when this organochlorine pesticide hazard was discovered. This experience, I believe, should cause us to be very careful not to assume that substances are safe until they have been the subject of independent research over a very long period and in a variety of circumstances.

Dangers to predator birds from sheep dip, to marine species from contamination in water, and continuing evidence from nature protection organisations of deaths of birds, animals and beneficial insects led the Government to ban the most suspect of these pesticides. But others, like D.D.T. and B.H.C., remain and now 172 concern is growing not only about the effects of these persistent chemicals on wild life—which is comparatively easy to assess—but also on human beings, which is more difficult to evaluate.

Traces of pesticides like B.H.C., D.D.T. and dieldrin have been found in the body fat of people in Wales particularly, and nearly a score of samples of human breast milk from Cardiff, Leicester and London also contain traces of these chemicals.

The National Association of Public Analysts is planning a survey of the amounts of pesticides in all types of food, particularly fresh fruit and vegetables. Up to date, 43 county councils and 117 borough and district councils have agreed to support the scheme. In addition, Government laboratories have, since the beginning of 1962, analysed samples of such foodstuffs as potatoes, carrots, strawberries, corned beef, imported apples, milk, wheat and pheasant, together with both home-produced and imported mutton fat, beef fat and butter.

Between the beginning of 1962 and 15th July last year, over 1,500 samples were analysed and I have no doubt that the number of samples since that date has considerably increased. The picture which this builds up over the years is one of gradual realisation of the hazards and the need for more and more research and safeguards in the use of these products. The long-term effect on health, particularly in combination with all the other chemical products and environmental pollution of modern life, urgently need investigation at Government level, since this public aspect of the use of pesticides is a public health responsibility, and the trade's own researches are inevitably limited by economic considerations.

While a greater awareness of the dangers and action to meet them is developing, the need remains for giving more information on these pesticides to farmers, contractors and gardeners about the chemicals that they contain, and warnings should be included about their possible long-term effects. That information and the education of the user can be given in many ways, but the one place where it is most effective is on the container itself or on the label fixed to it.

That is the sole and limited purpose of the Bill that I am seeking leave to introduce. It is to enable regulations to be 173 made requiring pesticides and some other chemical products used in gardening and agriculture to be labelled if they contain certain substances with the names of the substances and with marks to indicate toxicity, so that users can see at a glance exactly what they are using and take the necessary precautions.

I believe that this is a workmanlike, straightforward and very necessary Bill which is pioneering in a field where potential dangers are very great, and that these elementary safeguards are absolutely vital. It is not only in the countryside where these products may spell danger. Unless they are used with care and discretion, in closely built urban areas their use by millions of gardeners and allotment holders may have untoward effects, particularly as horticultural advisers and writers are such tireless advocates of every form of chemical spray.

I know of at least one prize-winning gardener who applies insect sprays to his carrots for show purposes, but who would never dream of eating them himself; and he preserves unsprayed crops for his family's personal use. But many gardeners lack his experienced judgment and they apply every available spray to their crops and plants.

It is to protect these innocent users as well as those who are careless and forgetful and to protect the environment in which they carry out their activities that the Bill is designed. Its provisions are long overdue, and I hope that the House will give me leave to bring it in.