§ 2.36 p.m.
§ THE EARL OF CROMARTIEMy 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 whether, in view of the increasing destruction of birds and honey bees, they will set up a permanent body with full powers to analyse, pass or reject all chemical sprays, seed dressings and other poisonous preparations now being used in great quantities in agriculture and horticulture, before they are put on the market by firms who are making huge profits from the sale of such poisons and who at present are entrusted with the analysis and testing of these very dangerous products which in all probability will turn out to be destructive to man as well as animals.]
EARL FERRERSNo, my Lords. As my noble friend the Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food informed the House on March 24 of this year, Her Majesty's Government do not at present see any necessity for departing from the present voluntary control system whereby manufacturers notify the Ministry of any new agricultural chemical they are proposing to market, and provide extensive data about it. Noble Lords will know that these data and all other available information are considered by the Advisory Committee on Pesticides and other Toxic Chemicals and its scientific subcommittee which includes independent members and experts in chemistry, toxicology and medicine, and members nominated by the Nature Conservancy. 106 No new chemical is cleared unless these Committees and the Agriculture and Health Departments are satisfied that adequate safeguards can be applied to protect men and animals.
I ought to remind your Lordships that although the scheme has so far worked well, the Government have asked the Advisory Committee to consider and advise whether improvements to and extensions of the present arrangements are desirable to provide greater protection.
§ THE EARL OF CROMARTIEMy Lords, I thank my noble friend for his very full Answer, but I am afraid that it does not satisfy me. Nor will it satisfy a great many other people, including the College of Agriculture for the North of Scotland. I think this is a very serious matter. Are we going to wait until we have a real disaster before the Government take any steps to put some sort of control on these things, which are doing incredible damage all over the country?