§ Mr. DrewTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what his Department's policy is1132W regarding its use of lindane; and what recent discussions he has had with other EU farm Ministers regarding the future use of lindane. [132729]
§ Ms Quin[holding answer 27 July 2000]: The Ministry's policy in respect of all pesticides, including lindane, is to ensure that they pose no unacceptable risk to people and the environment. To this end all pesticides are tightly controlled through stringent scientific evaluation and risk assessment.
Ministers have had no recent discussions with other EU farm Ministers regarding the future use of lindane. However officials from the Ministry supported the vote on 13 July by the EU Commission's Standing Committee on Plant Health to withdraw the agricultural uses of lindane throughout the EU as insufficient data, mainly concerning the environmental effects of lindane, have been submitted to support its continued use for these purposes.