OP News : January 2005

All-Party OP Group meets DEFRA minister

The All-Party OP Group in Parliament has asked Ben Bradshaw, the DEFRA minister responsible for policy on veterinary medicines, to remove existing sheepdips from the market and compensate farmers who are ill from OP exposure. The group, which includes Lord Tom King, met Mr Bradshaw on 25 January and the former environment minister Michael Meacher also attended the meeting.

Paul Tyler, the chairman of the Group, presented a new report on OPs and ill-health to Mr Bradshaw. Written by journalist John Harvey with help from OPIN, the report draws together cases of people with ill-health from different groups in society who have been exposed to OPs and who have suffered similar symptoms. It concludes by saying that the causal link between OPs and ill-health has been sufficiently demonstrated and that "It is now time for the government to put a greater emphasis on helping the victims of OP poisoning". The report is available from OPIN at the address below or from our website.

SHAW study

Dr Andrew Povey of the University of Manchester reports that this three-year study into the health of agricultural workers which started in 2002 has completed its first phase and is now sending out 19,000 questionnaires.

Pesticides exposure and Parkinson's disease

The Medical Research Council Institute for Environment and Health has completed a report of a project investigating the possibility that pesticide exposure is a risk factor for developing Parkinson's disease and/or parkinsonism (PD). The report is based on a review of the available literature on epidemiology, toxicology and exposure data with regard to the development of PD. At a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Pesticides last November which considered the report, the committee agreed to recommend laboratory research into the toxic mechanisms that might be involved in PD, and it said that long-term health studies of workers making or using pesticides would be useful to compare with the association found around the world between chemical exposure and the incidence of PD. The summary report is available on the DEFRA website and the full report will be published after peer review later this year.

SHAPE study

No change here: the report of the epidemiological part of the project is still being prepared by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Research at University College, London

Sarah Mackenzie Ross is investigating neuropsychological and psychiatric functioning in sheep farmers exposed to OP pesticides in a three-year government-funded project. The project is a case-control study of retired farmers in two groups, those who have suffered ill-health and those who have not; the project is currently attempting to build a database of farmers willing to take part in the research.

Aircraft cabin air quality - conference

The Aircraft Environment Task Group (AETG) of the British Airline Pilots Association is to stage a conference on aircraft cabin air quality on 20-21 April 2005. Participants include Professor Mohamed Abou-Donia, from Duke University Medical Center and Professor Robert Haley of the University of Texas South Western Medical School, both of whom have experience in studying the effects of organophosphates in Gulf war veterans; an Australian lung specialist and an Australian doctor with particular interest in investigating cabin air fumes; and Dr Sarah Mackenzie Ross of University College London. The conference will be chaired by Paul Tyler MP.