§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the research evaluated by his Department relating to the testing of the toxicity of the fire effluents of building products. [5580]
§ Mr. ClappisonThe toxicology of the major components of fire effluents such as carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide, is well understood and is not being studied in the Department's present research programme. The programme does include studies of methods for the assessment of toxic hazard in fire, which take into account existing toxicity data and such factors as burning behaviour.