§ Mr. TylerTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many licences for the manufacture and sale of organophosphate-based products have been withdrawn; and for what reasons. [20584]
§ Mr. RookerSince 1986, when statutory controls on pesticides were introduced, the approvals of 80 MAFF-approved organophosphate-based pesticide products have been withdrawn for commercial reasons at the request of the company concerned; 11 organophosphate product approvals have been revoked for the failure of the approval-holding company to meet a "data submission deadline" set by Ministers for the company to provide information on the effectiveness (efficacy) of its product; five organophosphate product approvals have been revoked for the failure of an approval-holding company to meet a "data submission deadline" set by Ministers for a company to provide information on some aspect of the safety of its product, in order fully to support the product's new or continuing approval; nine organophosphate product approvals have been revoked for the failure of an approval-holding company to provide information required by Ministers (and supplied by other companies), following a UK review of the data package supporting the active ingredients; two organophosphate product approvals have been revoked following the lapsing of a provisional approval for a particular batch of a product which had been imported by a company into the UK.
No licences or marketing authorisations for organophosphate-based veterinary medicinal products have been withdrawn by the Licensing Authority'. Products have been voluntarily withdrawn from the market by licence holders from time to time since the Medicines Act came into force in 1968. Details of the numbers are not readily available and the reasons for withdrawal were matters for the licence holders.
§ Mr. TylerTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the permitted uses of the organophosphate product Chlorpyriphos; and what66W assessment of the results of the US Government's research into its carcinogenic properties was taken into account when authorising these uses. [20583]
§ Mr. RookerAll pesticides are subject to strict regulatory control and must be approved by Ministers before they may be marketed or used in the United Kingdom. Chlorpyriphos, either by itself or in combination with other pesticide active ingredients, is approved for use in the UK as an insecticide on apples, barley, beetroot, currants, brassicas, carrots, celery, cereal grain, fennel, forestry, garlic, gooseberries, grassland, ornamental nursery stock, lettuce, leeks, maize, oats, oilseed rape, onions, parsnips, peas, pears, plums, potatoes, radishes, rhubarb, wheat, strawberries, sugar beet, sweetcorn and triticale. It is also approved for use as a fabric and machinery treatment in grain stores and as a public hygiene insecticide.
The Advisory Committee on Pesticides recently considered two US Government studies—a review of chlorpyriphos-associated cases of delayed neuropathy and a review of chlorpyriphos poisoning data—and recommended that although no action need be taken on present UK approvals for chlorpyriphos as a result of these they should be drawn to the attention of the Commission and Spain which is currently reviewing chlorpyriphos as part of the EC review programme. This has been done.