HYDROGEN CYANIDE (FUMIGA TION) BILL [H.L.] (Hansard, 14 April 1937)

THE MARQUESS OF DUFFERIN AND AVA

My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be read a second time. Once again I do not think I need take very much of your Lordships' time in moving the Second Reading of this Bill, because it is less than a year ago since its Second Reading was successfully moved by my noble friend Lord Feversham and, as those of your Lordships who form a quorum on these occasions usually are very restricted in number and the same, I imagine that the purposes of the Bill are familiar to most of those who are in the House to-night. The Bill, on that occasion, proved to be non-controversial, and nothing has happened since to alter the circumstances in which it will be received by your Lordships. Its purpose is to regulate the use of the gas known as hydrogen cyanide. The simple fact is that this gas is extremely useful but extremely dangerous. It is extremely useful because it is the most efficacious 943 method known of exterminating bugs and other vermin, and of exterminating the pests that prey on the vegetable world. On the other hand, it is extremely dangerous because a very small quantity of it is fatal, and because the victim is usually dead before he has had any warning or has had time to realise what was coming to him. In fact, fatalities, owing to misuse of the gas, or owing to ignorance about the use of it, have occurred, and His Majesty's Government are firmly convinced that we can no longer rely solely on administrative measures, and that statutory powers are necessary to protect the public.

This Bill—I will put it very shortly—confers powers to make certain regulations about the use of this gas. The probable subject of those regulations would be the control of dangerous methods of generating the gas, the control or prevention of inexpert operation of it, the control of the disposal of the residues from the gas, and regulations concerning the use of premises during and after fumigation by the gas. As your Lordships will readily understand, these regulations would have to be 944 adapted to the amount of danger involved in its use. You will notice, for instance, that in the extreme cases of the fumigation of rabbit warrens and fumigations carried out in the open air, where obviously there is little or no danger, those extreme cases are specifically exempted in the Bill. Finally, I think all I need sty is that these proposed regulations will have to be published in draft, and will be open to inspection for forty days, and that it is the intention of the Home Office that every interest will be consulted before any regulations are finally decided upon. I think that is a safeguard against any victimisation of anybody, and that your Lordships will be well advised to pass this Bill which has its counterpart in almost every other country in Europe. I am perfectly certain that if passed it will save many lives which would otherwise be lost.