§ 3.5 p.m.
§ LORD DOUGLAS OF BARLOCHMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of meat, poultry or other animal products sold for human consumption in this country have been derived from animals treated with diethylstilboestrol; and what steps will be taken to prevent this.]
THE JOINT PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD (EARL WALDEGRAVE)My Lords, the proportion of meat, poultry and other animal products derived from animals treated with, or fed on, synthetic oestrogens, of which diethylstilboestrol is one, is impossible to estimate at all closely. It is thought to amount to only a very small fraction of the total. Experimental evidence so far suggests that the possible risk to human health from the use of these products is very slight. Farmers have been made aware of the precautions to take in handling and administering these substances and no steps are being taken to prevent their use. The evidence bearing on the whole subject is, however, kept under review by the Agricultural and Medical Research Councils.
§ LORD DOUGLAS OF BARLOCHMy Lords, is the noble Earl aware that the National Cancer Institute in the United States has found from experiments on test animals that this substance is cancer-inducing, and is it not time that its use was entirely stopped?
EARL WALDEGRAVEMy Lords, the evidence is not, I think, quite so clear as the noble Lord would suggest. I am informed that the evidence of the effect of the substance on laboratory animals is not at all clear yet and it is still under study.
§ LORD DOUGLAS OF BARLOCHMy Lords, if there is even an element of doubt about the matter, is it not highly desirable that human beings should not be subjected to such a terrible risk?