§ Mr. Tudor Watkinsasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will make a statement about the new arrangements for approving disinfectants under the Diseases of Animals Act, 1950.
§ Mr. Cledwyn HughesMy right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland and I have had discussions with the interested bodies and have consulted manufacturers' representatives about detailed arrangements for submitting products to the necessary tests.
Disinfectants will be approved in one or more of the following groups:
Appropriate new tests have been devised for each of these groups.
- (i) for use specifically against anthrax, brucellosis, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia and glanders, and for purposes other than (ii), (iii) and (iv) below;
- (ii) for use against tuberculosis;
- (iii) for use against foot-and-mouth disease;
- (iv) for use against fowl pest (i.e., Newcastle disease and fowl plague).
We propose to make a new Order, as soon as a suitable number of disinfectants in each group has been approved for inclusion in the relevant schedules. This Order will replace the Diseases of Animals (Disinfection) Order of 1936 which deals with the approval of disinfectants required to be used under Orders or Regulations made under the Diseases of Animals Act, 1950.
Approvals given under the 1936 Order will remain effective for a transitional period of at least a year after the making of the new Order.
If an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease occurs before the new comprehensive Order can be made, my right hon. Friend and I are prepared to make a temporary Order. This would relate solely to disinfectants for use against foot-and-mouth disease and would list sodium carbonate (decahydrate), complying with British Standard 3674 of 1963, citric acid B.P.; two other disinfectants—the products Vanodine R.62 FAM and Resiguard F—which we already know to 172W be effective against the foot-and-mouth virus, and any other disinfectants which by then have been approved for this purpose.