§ Mr. Kennedyasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to what extent, in granting any recent approvals for use by the Forestry Commission of fenitrothion for blanket aerial spraying, his Department took account of the evidence available to the joint meeting on pesticides residues of the World Health Organisation concerning the veracity of tests conducted into the matter by Industrial Biotests of Chicago.
§ Mrs. Fenner[pursuant to her reply, 7 June 1985, c. 294]: The clearances granted to the Forestry Commission for the use of fenitrothion are not dependent on any tests conducted by Industrial Biotests of Chicago.
§ Mr. Kennedyasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what evidence is available to his Department concerning international research, particularly Canadian, into the suitability of fenitrothion for use in blanket aerial spraying; and if he will make a statement;
(2) if he will list the categories under which approval has been granted by his Department to the Forestry Commission for the use of fenitrothion for the purposes of blanket aerial spraying; if he will indicate the reasoning for the specific choice of category in each case; and if he will make a statement;
(3) on what basis his Department granted approval for use by the Forestry Commission of fenitrothion for the purposes of blanket aerial spraying.
§ Mrs. Fenner[pursuant to her reply, 7 June 1985, c. 294.]: All clearances granted under the pesticides safety precaution scheme including those for fenitrothion, are based on an objective evaluation of scientific data on toxicity, crop residues and wildlife environmental effects, as outlined in the scheme, the text of which is available in the Library of the House. Additionally, information derived from Canadian research on fenitrothion was considered by the Advisory Committee on Pesticides in 1978. The committee concluded that there was no 581W evidence of a causal relationship between use of fenitrothion and Reyes syndrome and that United Kingdom clearance conditions did not therefore require amendment. Currently, fenitrothion is cleared for limited use in the United Kingdom, ie on 5,333 hectares of forestry provided stringent conditions are met.
§ Mr. Kennedyasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what information he has as to which countries have banned the use of fenitrothion for the purposes of blanket aerial spraying and as to the reasons for such laws.
§ Mrs. Fenner[pursuant to her reply, 7 June 1985, c. 294.]I understand that the use of fenitrothion for aerial spraying is not permitted in certain provinces of Canada because of what was believed to be a possible association between the large scale use of fenitrothion in Canada and Reyes syndrome.