THE British government this week warned doctors to look out for nerve damage
in farm workers caused by organophosphate (OP) pesticides in sheep dips.
The advice follows the publication of a survey by the Institute of
Occupational Medicine in Edinburgh, which found that almost a fifth of 600
workers using such dips reported symptoms of nerve damage. Given the correlation
between the severity of these symptoms and the levels of OP metabolites in the
workers鈥� urine, the report concludes that 鈥渁t least some of the reported
symptoms are due to exposure to sheep dip chemicals鈥�.
Deputy agriculture minister Jeff Rooker says the findings will be studied by
the government鈥檚 Committee on Toxicity working group on OPs, due to report on
sheep-dip safety in October. But campaigners against OPs are not satisfied.
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鈥淚t鈥檚 disgraceful the government hasn鈥檛 put an instant ban on them,鈥� says Ian
Gibson, a member of the House of Commons science and technology committee. 鈥淭his
is an indictment of a system which has tolerated these chemicals in the face of
farmers鈥� ill health,鈥� says Peter Beaumont of the Pesticides Trust in London.
鈥淭hese are highly dangerous chemicals and we shouldn鈥檛 be using them.鈥�
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food says that
the government does not want to pre-empt the advice of its scientific experts.
Some of the problems may be caused by farm workers ignoring basic safety
procedures, she adds.