§ Mr. Gordon Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to impose restrictions on the sale of the chemical Gramoxone in the light of its possible damage to life and health.
§ Mr. RaisonThere are already restrictions under the Poisons Act 1972 on the sale of the poison paraquat, which is the main constituent of the herbicide Gramoxone. Retail sales, full details of which must be recorded in a poisons book, may be made only by registered pharmacists or by persons listed with the local authority as sellers of poisons. The latter may sell only to persons known by the seller to be engaged in the trade of agriculture, horticulture or forestry and for use in that trade or business; subject to the same record-keeping requirement, pharmacists and wholesalers may sell to other users if satisfied that the purchaser is a person to whom the poison may properly be sold.