HC Deb 29 March 1983 vol 40 c96W
Mrs. Renée Short

asked 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.