§ Mrs. Renèe Shortasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) what steps are being taken to ensure that substitutes should be used in place of benzidine-based dyes in the textile and leather industries; and what guidance has been issued by the Health and Safety Executive;
(2) what evidence has been made available to the Health and Safety Executive to show that benzidine-based dyes are a cause of cancer; what advice has been given to workers and firms concerning the use of such dyes; and if he will take steps to ensure that their use is discontinued and substitutes used.
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§ Mr. WaddingtonThe Health and Safety Executive is aware of reports of animal studies carried out in the United States in which rats and mice fed on a diet containing less than 4 parts per million of free benzidine developed cancerous and pre-cancerous changes in the liver. The executive is also aware of a Russian report that textile dyers using benzidine-based dyes had apparently developed pre-cancerous bladder lesions, but no further details are known. It is also aware of a study in Japan involving 200 patients with bladder cancer, in which the patients were found to be predominantly kimono painters who were in the habit of licking the brushes and thus inadvertently consuming dyes, some of which were known to be benzidine-based. Epidemiological studies carried out in this country have not demonstrated any link between exposure to benzidine-based dyes and an excess incidence of bladder cancer.
Nevertheless, in accordance with the policy expressed by the Health and Safety Commission in its published Guidance Note EH18 "Toxic substances: a precautionary policy", firms using benzidine-based dyes—and indeed all dyes—are being advised by inspectors to take all necessary steps to ensure that exposure to dyestuffs is kept as low as is reasonably practicable. Specific guidance on the safe handling of dyestuffs in colour stores, prepared by a committee composed of representatives of the dye manufacturers, employers and trade unions in the user industry, and the Health and Safety Executive, has recently been published.
Guidance on the use of substitutes is also given in the Guidance Note EH18, but caution is needed since a substitute not adequately tested could subsequently be found to present just as serious a hazard as the substance it replaces.
December each year Male Female Change since previous December Male Female 1975 940,452 260,318 +375,752 +144,018 1976 1,019,500* 351,500* +79,048 +91,182 1977 1,060,691 420,131 +41,191 +68,631 1978 962,540 401,767 -98,151 -18,364 1979 934,231 421,227 -28,309 +19,460 1980 1,585,723 658,506 +651,492 +237,279 * Estimated Note: The figures for 1979 and 1980 are not strictly comparable with those for the earlier dates because of the introduction, in September 1979, of fortnightly attendance and payment of benefit. It has been estimated that the resulting spurious effect is an increase of 20,000 (13,200 males, 6,800 females) on the monthly figures for the country as a whole.