§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what further research his Department has carried out on the potential environmental effects of pentachlorophenol; whether the advisory committee on pesticides has recommended any change; and if he will make a statement.
§ Sir George Young[pursuant to the reply, 28 March 1983, c. 75]: The Department has completed its studies of the exposure of occupants of buildings containing wood treated with pentachlorophenol—PCP—and a report has been considered by the advisory committee on pesticides. I am placing a copy of the report in the Library.
In the light of that report and of other published information, a specification for the purity of PCP to be used in remedial treatments in this country was drawn up. Provisional commercial clearance has been granted for the use, as a wood preservative, of PCP meeting this specification.