HL Deb 01 March 1993 vol 543 cc30-1WA
The Countess of Mar

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What have been the totals of human suspected adverse reactions reported to the Veterinary Medicines Directorate and what percentage of those have been because of exposure to organophosphate sheep dips for each year since 1985.

Earl Howe

The information requested is set out in the following table.

Year Total human SAR reports received Organophosphate sheep dip SAR reports as a percentage of total human SAR reports
1985 11 73
1986 29 35
1987 27 37
1988 34 56
1989 23 39
1990 41 12
1991 202 66
1992 206 65
SAR = Suspected Adverse Reaction

A significant proportion of the reports received since 1990 are historical cases where a suspected adverse reaction had occurred more than one year previously. To put these figures into context, during the same period over 1 million sheep dippings will have been carried out.