§ Mr. TylerTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will revise the guidance given to general practitioners on the diagnosis, treatment and benefit implications of conditions caused by exposure to organophosphorous sheep dips; and if she will make a statement.
§ Mr. SackvilleTraining in diagnosis and treatment is principally a matter for the medical profession rather than the Government. All general practitioners and accident and emergency departments were sent the Department's book "Pesticide Poisoning" when it was published, copies of which are available in the Library, and the chief medical officer wrote to all doctors in England in 1991 and again with the chief executive of the Veterinary Medicines Directorate in June 1993 to alert general practitioners to the possibility of exposure to pesticides and certain veterinary medicines including organophosphorus sheep dips and to remind them of the reporting schemes operated by Employment Medical Advisory Service and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food's veterinary medicines directive. The chief medical officers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also wrote to doctors in those countries. All doctors therefore should be aware of the possibility of poisoning if over exposure to any of these products occurs and the symptoms to be expected.
597WThis guidance is still valid.
Any benefit implications are a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Security.