No OP seminar for three years, admits Bradshaw
ANIMAL Health Minister Ben Bradshaw has revealed that he has no intention of holding a seminar to discuss research into organophosphates used in farming for at least another three years.
Mr Bradshaw angered OP campaigners in October when he postponed the seminar, scheduled to take place at about this time. In an interview with Farmers Guardian this week he indicates he is no hurry to re-schedule the event.
"I will review the value of holding a seminar when the full findings from the current Research and Development papers (from a £1.4m Government-funded research programme) are available. These are expected in 2006/2007", he says.
He added that 'DEFRA's door is open at any time' to MPs in the All-Party Group on OPs and other parties who want an update on the latest research.
He defended the decision to postpone the seminar, emphatically denying it was the result of pressure from civil servants in the department. "The seminar was postponed on my instructions because I did not feel the expense of gathering a large group of people together for a whole day in the absence of anything that is new or substantive to discuss was the best use of limited resources," he said.
Mr Bradshaw also defended the Government against claims that it has been partially responsible for organophosphate poisoning suffered by farmers over the past three decades.
OP sheep dips were effectively compulsory until 1992. The Veterinary Medicines Directorate licensed OP products mixed with phenols even though it was subsequently shown it had never received adequate assurances from manufacturers that the products were safe for users. Phenols were removed from sheep dips in 1993.
There are also question marks over whether the safety advice given to farmers on product packages and by Government agencies provided sufficient protection and accusations of secrecy throughout the whole affair.
Asked if he felt the Government was responsible in any way for people who became ill after using OP dips up until 1992 and if he believed the safety advice was adequate up to that point, Mr Bradshaw's reply was the same in both cases. "The Government has always acted on the basis of the best scientific evidence available at the time, and taken appropriate measures to safeguard users based on this evidence," he asked.
On the link between OPs and illness in users, he referred to a 1999 report by the Institute of Occupational Health that linked handling concentrated solutions of OP dips to ill health. He pointed out that the Government suspended the authorisations for OP sheep dips in December 1999 until modifications were made to the containers to minimise the risk to operators.
Mr Bradshaw's views contrast with those of the man he succeeded at DEFRA, Michael Meacher. In an interview in May he told FG he was 'very concerned at the number of reports continuing to allege a connection between low-level chronic exposure to OPs in sheep dipping and seriously debilitating ill-health syndrome'.
At the time Mr Meacher said he was keen to arrange a seminar to discuss current research on OPs, particularly on alternative non-chemical treatments for sheep scab, such as a product being developed in Australia. He said he was 'dissatisfied' with the speed at which non-chemical treatments were being developed and wanted the summit to speed it up.
Paul Tyler, the Liberal Democrat MP and chairman of the All-Party OP Group, said by putting the seminar off until 2006/7, Mr Bradshaw was showing a lack of interest in the subject, particularly regarding the development of alternative products. He said OPs could be banned under new EU legislation in 2005 and the need to find effective alternatives was 'urgent'.
By referring only to a link between handling concentrated OP solutions and ill-health effects, Mr Bradshaw 'flies in the face' of DEFRA funded research into possible effects from low level chronic exposure, and the experience of many farmers.