HC Deb 06 March 1990 vol 168 cc557-8W
Mr. Allen

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether the container of lindane lost in the Channel in 1989 has been found.

Mr. McLoughlin

I have been asked to reply.

The container was lost in an area of the Channel in which under a longstanding bilateral agreement the French authorities are responsible for co-ordinating counterpollution action. Despite an intensive and very comprehensive search mounted by the French Navy and continuing vigilance, it has not been found. My Department's marine pollution control unit maintains close contacts with the French authorities and is satisfied that every effort has been made to try and locate the missing container. Sampling and analysis of seawater and fish both in the area where the container was thought to be lost and in the English Channel as a whole has been undertaken by the French authorities and by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) respectively. No increased levels of lindane have been detected. Further sampling and analysis will be undertaken by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food later this year.