Susceptibility to chronic organophosphate exposure (SCOPE)

The SCOPE study was setup to investigate whether or not some people have genetic factors that make them more susceptible to chronic effects of organophosphates. The work was carried out at the Centre for Occupational Health at the University of Manchester. It started in 1999 and in 2003 published a report in The Lancet, Volume 359, Number 9308, 2 March 2002.

In a letter to participants in the study the project leader said:

"...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 results of this study cannot tell us, for any one subject, whether ill health has been caused by organophosphates or not. We can say that people with a particular set of genes are more at risk, but we cannot rule out the possibility that ill health is due to exposure even in those whose genes appear to put them at lower risk or that in those at higher risk, ill-health was due to other exposures...

The results support the idea that some people may be particularly at risk from working with organophosphates, and that it is important in understanding how these products can be used safely."

BBC News report here ('Research backs sheep dip claims')