§ Mr. Eldon Griffithsasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, in view of the continued existence in Great Britain of sheep scab, and bearing in mind the shortage and high cost of gamma benzene hexachloride, what response he has made to the offer of various chemical companies to assist in the research necessary for the development of other, modern dips which he could approve for the purpose of orders relating to sheep scab and sheep dipping.
§ Mr. StrangDevelopment work on dips containing ingredients other than gamma benzene hexachloride is a matter for the chemical companies themselves. If new dips are to be approved against sheep scab, trials using some 30 to 40 infected sheep are needed, and since sheep scab is a notifiable disease involving statutory action the conditions under which trials can be permitted need careful consideration to ensure that the sheep scab mite does not escape from the trial premises. Three companies are known to be interested in establishing trial premises and are about to be informed of the specification that my Department has prepared for the construction and operation of such premises.