§ Miss Maynardasked the Secretary of State for Employment if, in his study of the effects of 2,4,5-T, he will analyse the report provided for Coalite and Chemical Products, Bolsover by Dr Martin; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Mayhew[pursuant to his reply, 14 March 1980]: The report referred to relates to an explosion at the Coalite and Chemical Products plant at Bolsover in 1968 which resulted in workers being exposed to large quantities of dioxin. Since the herbicide 2,4,5-T as used in this country is allowed to contain no more 25W than minute quantities of dioxin, the report is unlikely to have implications for consideration of the safety of 2,4,5-T. However, any relevant information—from this or any other source—that becomes available on the safety of 2,4,5-T will he passed to the Advisory Committee on Pesticides for consideration alongside other evidence.
A report by Dr. Martin on a study of eight Coalite workers was published in the Lancet on 24 February 1979. I understand that an earlier report by Dr. Martin was made to the company but this is not at present publicly available.