The Science and Technology Committee of the House of Lords publishes a report of their inquiry into the effect on health of air travel. The report makes recommendations to government, regulators, aircraft manufacturers, airlines and their agents. OPIN submitted evidence to the committee on possible problems caused by the use of engine lubricants containing organophosphates. (See also OPIN comment)
www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld/ldsctech.htm

A group action against sheepdip manufacturers by farmers who believe that their health has suffered as a result of exposure to OP sheepdips has been abandoned because of a lack of clear evidence that OPs had damaged their health. Legal aid has been withdrawn. The law firm Hodge Jones and Allen of London have overall control of the case.

A report, Air Safety and Cabin Air Quality in the BAe 146 Aircraft, is published by the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee of the Australian Parliament. The committee started their inquiry in early 1999 after becoming aware of a history of complaints concerning the quality and effects of cabin air in the BAe 146 aircraft.
www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/rrat_ctte/bae/bae.pdf

Two OP sheepdips will be available for use after the Veterinary Medicines Directorate granted applications from companies which have met interim conditions pending long-term design changes to containers.
www.maff.gov.uk/inf/newsrel/2000/001013a.htm

The government invites sheepdip manufacturers to develop new plans for sheepdip containers with closed delivery systems, following new advice from the Veterinary Products Committee. The new containers should be designed to minimise operator exposure to organophosphate concentrate. In the short term the government accepts that the addition of a vented tap to existing containers and revised warnings on can labels would be acceptable. This interim arrangement would not extend beyond 31 August 2001.
www.maff.gov.uk/inf/newsrel/2000/000815b.htm

The Veterinary Laboratories Agency is undertaking a project to investigate the potential for biological control of the sheep scab mite using entomopathogenic fungi. There is a need to find methods of ectoparasite control in animals as alternatives to the use of neurotoxic chemicals because of the associated human health and environmental problems. The study started on 1 July 2000 and will last 3 years.

A new government-funded research programme invites scientists investigating the effects of organophosphates on human health to submit suggestions for research. Scientists should submit 'concept notes' which address the areas for research identified in the report published by the COT committee (www.open.gov.uk/doh/cot/htm) and further developed following the scientific workshop held on 28 March. Advertisements appear in New Scientist of 20 July and The Lancet of 22 July.

'Promising' suggestions for research will be followed up and authors invited to submit full research proposals to form part of a 'targeted programme of research' which will be funded jointly by MAFF, HSE and DOH. Baroness Hayman said '...we will ensure that the process of appraising concept notes and, later, full bids will involve scientists who are independent of Government.'

The Research Requirements Document is available from www.maff.gov.uk/research/publications.

WASHINGTON - Consumers Union (CU) today called on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to phase out all uses of the pesticide diazinon within four years. The recommendation came in the form of comments submitted to EPA in response to the agency's request for comments on its proposal to reduce risk from exposure to the widely used insecticide. The comments were submitted as part of CU's ongoing pesticide policy reform efforts.

"Children's exposure is a major concern with diazinon," said Adam Goldberg, a policy analyst at Consumers Union. "Not only is it in foods kids eat on a regular basis, but it is also commonly found in drinking water. Plus, it is used on lawns and in parks and other recreational settings. These are the places where kids like to play, and if diazinon is used there, they can't avoid it."

Diazinon is an organophosphate insecticide with a wide range of agricultural, ranching, home and urban applications. Diazinon is used on many of the foods that kids eat every day, including grapes, green beans, peaches and spinach. Multiple uses create many different sources of exposure and as a result significant harm can be done not only to human beings, but to populations of birds, fish, bees, and other non-target organisms. It is a neurotoxicant and a affects key developmental processes. Diazinon poses a risk to farmworkers who use the insecticide in their work, and to their children who are exposed in the fields, from drift, and from being exposed to it on their parents clothing.'
More...

A seminar on the neuropsychological and neuropsychiatric effects of exposure to organophosphates is held in Exeter, Devon. The speakers are Dr Sarah Mackenzie Ross, a consultant neuropsychologist, who speaks about cognitive impairment seen in patients occupationally exposed to OPs; Dr Robert Davies, a consultant psychiatrist, who speaks about his surveys of westcountry patients occupationally exposed to OPs; and Dr David Johnson, a consultant paediatric neuropsychologist, who speaks about early brain injury and the potential risks from organophosphate compounds.

The participants are health professionals from the south west region. See here for a preliminary report; a full report of the three main talks will be published later in the year.

Work carried out by a team led by Dr Mohamed Abou-Donia of the Duke University Medical Center suggests that autoantibodies found in the blood of a 5-year old exposed to tar and the insecticide chlorpyrifos when he was a year old "may provide a useful marker for the diagnosis of chemically-induced neurologic disorders such as organophosphate-induced delayed neurotoxicity (OPIDN) and may help in the development of appropriate treatment". The antibodies provide physical evidence of the damage caused by the poison. The work is reported in the journal Environmental Epidemiology and Toxicology (2000), 2, 37-41. BBC Online News report.

Further data from farmers who have used sheepdip and from Gulf war veterans may be published in due course.

A Workshop on Research on Organophosphates is held at the Society of Chemical Industry headquarters in London (see News 19 February 2000). There are approximately ninety participants. Short presentations on various aspects of organophosphate poisoning are made by: David Coggan (MRC, Southampton General Hospital), Adele Pilkington (Institute of Occupational Medicine, Edinburgh), Nicola Cherry (University of Manchester), Tony Fletcher (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine), Paul Glynn (MRC Toxicology Unit, University of Leicester), Richard Glass (Central Science Laboratory), Elizabeth Sigmund (OPIN), Stephen Hodges (University of Essex), Goran Jamal (Central Middlesex Hospital), Peter Julu (Central Middlesex Hospital) and Sarah Mackenzie-Ross (University College, London). The afternoon plenary session is chaired by Baroness Hayman, Minister of State in the House of Lords.

A report of the day's proceedings is to be compiled by the Central Science Laboratory and will be made publicly available.

Two animal health companies, Bayticol and Novartis Animal Health, have stopped producing organophosphate sheepdips. Bayticol says that the market is too small and the cost of redesigning packaging is too great. (Farmers Weekly 24 March 2000).

A workshop on research into organophosphates is to be held at the end of March in London. Advertisements have been placed in Lancet and New Scientist:

A one-day workshop involving scientists researching into the effects of OPs is to take place on 28 March 2000 at the Society of the Chemical Industry Headquarters, London... The prime purpose is to develop a targeted programme to take forward the research recommendations made by COT and the regulatory committees... The Workshop will allow all participants to play a role in refining the questions to be addressed by the research programme.

For further information contact Mrs M Churchouse, Conference Administrator, Central Science Laboratory, Sand Hutton, York YO4 1LZ (m.churchouse@csl.gov.uk) tel 01904 462000, by 17 March 2000.

OP dips which are out-of-date can be more dangerous than the new product, says the Health and Safety Executive. In the Jan/Feb 2000 issue of the Sheep Farmer Allan Spence of the HSE's Agriculture and Wood Sector warned that "... some OP dips can become far more poisonous and they should never be used after the expiry date." Some OP dips break down to compounds which are more hazardous than the original product, especially after being exposed to moisture.

This warning follows an HSE investigation into a reported case of ill-health which discovered that an out-of-date OP sheep dip had been used.

Some farmers may have difficulty in determining the age of the dip in their cans: the article also says "Some [can] labels carry an expiry date after which they should not be used."

Dr Caroline Jackson MEP, Chair of the European Parliament's committee on the Environment, Consumer Protection and Public Health has asked questions on the organophosphate issue. In reply the Commission said that the "Community is not directly funding any research projects into the effects on human health of the handling of organophosphate sheep dips" and "... there are no plans to ban such dips or lay down safety measures that must be employed in addition to those already provided by the manufacturers and by individual Member State legislation."

Commissioner David Byrne said that although no research is currently being conducted into health problems associated with OP sheep dips throughout Europe, a research proposal could be submitted, one possible activity being "improved methods for evaluating the impact of veterinary products on public and animal health."

Roger Cook of the National Office of Animal Health, a trade association which represents manufacturers of veterinary medicinal products including organophosphate sheepdips, says that chemical companies may not be willing to invest in the redesign of cans as required by the 'action plan' announced by MAFF on 20 December 1999 (BBC Southwest Spotlight TV news).