ASBESTOS REGULATIONS (Hansard, 30 May 1968)

§ LORD CROOK
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

§ LORD HILTON OF UPTON
My Lords, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity hopes to publish a Statutory Draft of the Asbestos Regulations later this year. I regret that I am unable to give him a specific date.

§ LORD CROOK
My Lords, does the Minister recall that the Report on this matter was issued over a year ago? Does he recall that the Chief Inspector of Factories who energised this matter retired in July of last year? Does he further recall that the Leader of the House, answering a debate on the Factory Inspectorate in this House in February, had in front of him a copy of the draft which he was ready to give to me? Finally, is it possible for the noble Lord to indicate to us who is frustrating the Government and the civil servants in issuing these Regulations?

§ LORD HILTON OF UPTON
My Lords, I regret to inform my noble friend that I cannot tell him who is frustrating him and the House. I realise his keen interest in this matter, and, like him, my right honourable friend is aware of the great danger to the health of those who work with asbestos, especially those who work with blue asbestos. My noble friend will be pleased to know that during the last three years the amount of blue 1220 asbestos imported into this country has ben reduced from about 9,000 tons to about 1,200 tons. I can assure him that discussions on the Regulations are in an advanced state, and I will do my best to see that my right honourable friend is aware of the concern of my noble friend at the delay in publication. I am sorry that I cannot tell him the date, but I will see that they are published as soon as possible, and certainly within the next few months.

§ BARONESS SUMMERSKILL
My Lords, while recognising that it is not my noble friend's fault that he has had to tell the House what he has today, may I ask whether he is aware that the policy he has indicated in his Answer is little less than inhuman? Is he aware that asbestosis is one of the most horrible diseases, accompanied by distressing symptons, and that eighteen months ago when we debated the matter of industrial diseases in this House I, with my noble friend Lord Crook, brought up the question of asbestosis? Three months ago we again raised the matter. On both occasions it was indicated to us that action was being taken, and now we are being told that these people who are in contact with asbestos which will give them this horrible disease must now wait until the end of the year before action is taken.

§ LORD HILTON OF UPTON
My Lords, I am grateful that my noble friend does not hold me responsible for the delay. I am aware of the danger to those people who have to work with asbestos and also what it can lead to, because I have here the Memorandum of the Senior Medical Inspector's Advisory Panel dealing with problems arising from the use of asbestos. The fact that my noble friends have again raised this matter this afternoon will, I think, help to speed up the publication of these Regulations, which I quite agree we should have as soon as humanly possible.

§ LORD RITCHIE-CALDER
My Lords, during this inexplicable delay would my noble friend draw the attention of the Minister of Health to the fact that this is not only an industrial health problem but one that can become an embarrassment as a potential public health problem to people living in proximity to the operation?

§ LORD HILTON OF UPTON
Yes, my Lords.

§ LORD AMULREE
My Lords, does not a question like that make it all the more important that responsibility for occupational health work should be transferred to the National Health Service and not kept in a separate department?

§ LORD HILTON OF UPTON
My Lords, I agree with the noble Lord, but really that is another question.

§ LORD PLATT
My Lords, speaking as one of the medical Members of the House, as others have already spoken, I should like to ask whether her Majesty's Government realise that this is one of the few preventable forms of cancer.

§ LORD CROOK
My Lords, since the noble Lord has referred to the reduction in the import of asbestos, can he inform us whether the Government propose to take steps to ban the use of blue asbestos?

§ LORD HILTON OF UPTON
My Lords, that is another question. The figures I gave were that there had been a reduction in imports of blue asbestos from 9,000 tons to 1,200 tons during the past three years. It is not thought that to ban the use of asbestos is the right thing, but that we should reduce so far as possible its use, as has already been done in recent years.