§ Mr. ColvinTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what evidence he has of any carcinogenic risk to humans from the use of creosote as a wood preservative.
§ Mr. DorrellThere are case reports published in the United Kingdom and reports to Her Majesty's inspector of factories of skin cancers among workers treating timber with creosote, handling creosote in storage and using creosote as a releasing agent for brick moulds. These indicate that repeated and prolonged contact with the skin over many years may result in skin cancer. The WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has, on the basis of these reports and the results of experiments on laboratory animals, classified creosote as a probable carcinogen. However, there is no evidence to indicate that occasional contact with creosote would be likely to give rise to cancers.