§ 21. Mr. Burdenasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many dogs died in Ministry of Agriculture laboratories as a result of tests to investigate contamination of fields by the drug fluoroacetamide; how the drugs were administered to the dogs; and what symptoms developed before death.
§ Mr. SoamesAs I said in my statement to the House on 3rd February, three dogs died during investigations at the Central Veterinary Laboratories at Weybridge into the incident at Smarden, Kent. The dogs were given suspected water or flesh from suspect animals. The symptoms of fluoroacetamide poisoning are excitability, coma and convulsions in coma. It is reported that human beings who have recovered from this form of poisoning in the United States suffered no pain, and we have no reason to believe that pain was suffered by the dogs.
§ 22. Mr. Loughlinasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will issue instructions that all soil taken from the Smarden area for dumping into the sea shall be placed in containers before being so dumped.
§ Mr. SoamesI understand that the firm has accepted advice to mix the contaminated material with cement in 139W containers, in order to overcome the practical difficulty of transporting the material from Smarden to the edge of the continental shelf without leakage on the way. I can assure the hon. Member that the dumping will not harm fisheries.
§ Captain Kerbyasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what chemical tests have been devised for testing plants suspected of containing fluoroacetates, when existing tests on grass show no detectable level of fluoroacetamide despite the fact that two of his experimental cows died after a few weeks from fluoroacetamide poisoning after grazing for a short while on an affected field.
§ Mr. Scott-HopkinsThe method of testing plants for fluoroacetamide and fluoroacetate residues devised in 1956 by Dr. Thompson of my Ministry's Plant Pathology Laboratory was published in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 1959, volume 10, page 388. Dr. Egan, and Dr. Wood of the Laboratory of the Government Chemist D.S.I.R. published a modified method in the same journal in 1960, volume 11, page 580. The level of detection is of the order of 0.1 parts per million using 100 gms. of plant material. The Laboratory of the Government Chemist is currently looking into more specific methods for the detection and determination of fluoroacetic acid, fluoroacetate and fluoroacetamide.
Some grass samples taken in September 1963 showed evidence of slight contamination on analysis. This was confirmed in the case of one sample by means of feeding trials with a guinea-pig. A further sample taken on 8th January 1964 produced negative results when tested biologically. Grazing trials of cows to which my hon. Friend refers conducted on suspected pasture indicated that, for a period after 12th November 1963; a source of organic-fluorine was still available to these animals, but this may have been due to an overflowing pond.
§ Captain Kerbyasked the Minister of Agriculture. Fisheries and Food if his veterinary laboratory is the only laboratory permitted to secure dogs which are painlessly destroyed after being subjected to intense convulsive symptoms in 140W order to prove fluoroacetate poisoning; and if he will now prohibit the manufacture and use of fluoroacetates entirely.
§ Mr. Scott-HopkinsThe Ministry's Veterinary Laboratory is not the only laboratory permitted to use dogs for experimental purposes. My right hon. Friend has asked the Advisory Committee on Poisonous Substances Used in Agriculture and Food Storage to review the rodenticidal use of fluoroacetamide and will consider whether any further action is called for in the light of the Committee's Report.
§ Captain Kerbyasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, in view of the fact that a dog, being the most susceptible creature known, is used to provide scientific proof whether an animal has died from suspected fluoroacetate poisoning, and that regulations were already in force last year which should have prevented the deaths of many pet animals in South Wales, if he will ban this product as a rodenticide.
§ Mr. Scott-HopkinsMy right. hon. Friend has referred the question of the rodenticidal use of this product to the Advisory Committee on Poisonous Substances Used in Agriculture and Food Storage.
§ Captain Kerbyasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, if he is aware that private veterinary surgeons have no conclusive method of distinguishing between the relatively common mineral deficiency disease of hypomagnesaemia in cattle, sheep and goats, and acute fluoroacetate poisoning in these animals, when presented only with the post-mortem findings and history of symptoms presented by the farmer, and likewise the distinguishing features at post-mortem examination between the relatively common virus encephalitis in dogs and acute fluoroacetate poisoning; and what research he proposes to initiate to clarify this position.
§ Mr. Scott-HopkinsMany conditions of animals other than those mentioned require the use of laboratory techniques and apparatus before a conclusive diagnosis can be made.
Veterinary surgeons in private practice who are faced with problems in 141W farm animals such as those described, and who have insufficient laboratory facilities to resolve them, know that assistance may be obtained from the Ministry's Veterinary Investigation Service. The Ministry does not normally do work connected with domestic pets but it is prepared to help where a serious outbreak of poisoning is suspected.
§ Mr. Burdenasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many dogs have been used for tests connected with contamination by the drug fluoroacetamide; over what period the tests took place; and where the dogs used in the experiment were obtained.
§ Mr. SoamesThree dogs died during investigations into the Smarden incident, and a further three were used in investigations into the death of a number of domestic animals at Merthyr Tydfil. The tests took place between the end of September and mid-December. They were surplus to the requirements of the dog breeders from whom they were obtained.