A meeting is convened by DEFRA at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Porton, Wiltshire, at which scientists currently involved in government-funded OP research will present their findings. Summaries of presentations are available from the website of the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (at their website select 'Research & Development' in the left navigation bar, then 'Current Projects').

The appeal against the dismissal of the organophosphate group litigation was heard and has been dismissed. For one view of the process, see here.

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate publishes a report which provides an analysis of suspected adverse reactions to organophosphate sheepdips. The information was collected under the government's Suspected Adverse Reaction Surveillance Scheme (SARSS), which is a voluntary scheme that monitors suspected reactions in humans and animals to veterinary medicines, including sheepdips. The report was compiled from 646 reports collected between 1981 and 2000. Some symptoms, myalgia (headaches) and depression, featured 'prominently' in the reports collected. Because of the voluntary nature of the SARSS scheme and variable quality of the data the report does not come to any firm conclusions on the causes of ill-health reported.
www.vmd.gov.uk/general/publications/dunnreport.pdf.

The Rural Outreach Service of MIND in the Vale of Clwyd has published a booklet Organophosphates and Your Health. For further information and copies, contact Rural Outreach Service, 4 Rosemary Lane, Denbigh LL16 3TT.

The government has suspended the sale of a range of agricultural, professional and domestic insecticide products containing the chemical dichlorvos. The Advisory Committee on Pesticides, an independent scientific advisory committee, advised ministers that it could not satisfactorily rule out the possibility that dichlorvos is a genotoxic carcinogen (causes cancer by damaging DNA). Dichlorvos is used in domestic products and the horticultural industry.
http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2002/020419a.htm

The results of a research project suggest that some people may be genetically pre-disposed to suffer ill-health after coming into contact with organophosphates. In The Lancet a research letter is published which reports the first results of the SCOPE study (Susceptibility to Chronic Organophosphate Exposure) run by the Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health at the University of Manchester. The study shows that people who have dipped sheep and become ill are more likely to have a variant in their genes that makes them less able to break down organophosphates once they get into the body. (The Lancet Volume 359, Number 9308, 2 March 2002)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1847000/1847580.stm