§ Mr. Hector Hughesasked the Minister of Transport if he will make a statement on the appointment and work of Mr. Baxter, the British scientist who was sent by his Department to examine the barrels containing rat poison caught in fishermen's nets off Brittany which were found in the shallow waters of the Continental Shelf.
§ Mr. MarplesI would refer the hon. and learned Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Arundel and Shoreham, on Monday, 22nd June.
Mr. W. L. Baxter, a Senior Mechanical Engineer of my Ministry, supervised the packing of the fluoroacetamide-contaminated soil and residues at Smarden. In France he inspected five drums recently trawled up by French fishermen and established that they did not originate from Smarden. Samples from the drums are being analysed by the Government Chemist; the analysis is not complete but it has been established that neither fluoroacetamide nor fluoroacetic acid is present.