HC Deb 19 October 1998 vol 317 cc902-3W
Mr. Livingstone

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what is his Department's current evaluation of the extent to which(a) short-term and (b) long-term exposure to organophosphorus compounds produces chronic illnesses. [55334]

Mr. Meacher

Organophosphorus (OP) compounds are toxic and on present available evidence it seems very likely that exposure to high doses can result in long-term ill health in addition to acute toxic effects. What is still questioned in some quarters is the long-term effect of prolonged low-level exposure, and research has been commissioned into this. The research is being carried out by the Institute of Occupational Medicine in Edinburgh. Its report is expected next summer.

Mr. Livingstone

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list the reviews and research into the effect of organophosphorus compounds on human health which his Department has initiated since 1 May 1997, indicating who is carrying out the research and when it is expected to be completed. [55335]

Mr. Meacher

Two such projects have been initiated since 1 May 1997 by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The first, an in-vitro investigation of the relative inhibitory effects of organophosphates (OPs) and carbamates towards pseudocholinesterase in human blood, is being carried out by HSE's Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) in Sheffield. This project began in August 1997 and ended in June 1998. The HSL report is expected later this year. The second, a study of sheep farmers to investigate the hypothesis that genetic differences lead to variations in individual responsiveness to OPs, is due to begin in November 1998 and end in October 1999. The study is being carried out by the University of Manchester's School of Epidemiology and Health Sciences.

Although not initiated within the timescale indicated, there is also under way a major 3-year epidemiological study by the Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM) in Edinburgh on the health effects of prolonged low-level exposure to OPs in sheep dippers. The IOM report is expected next year. This research is jointly funded by HSE, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Department of Health.