OP restrictions in UK imminent?

A government adviser has warned that consumers are being put at risk because scientific advisory committees have understated the danger of organophosphate (OP) pesticides, which are used on about a quarter of crops in Britain.
    A cross-departmental review of OP safety (see PN39 p23) has concluded that there should be changes to the licensing and handling of the products to protect the public. The report has not yet been made public, but was quoted in the Daily Telegraph.
    Dr Goran Jamal, who heads a £500,000 Government-funded research project at the Institute of Neurological Sciences in Glasgow, has told ministers that he believes the potential risk to human health posed by OPs is greater than so far acknowledged.
    The 100 page document was produced by officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Department of Health, the Department Environment, Transport and the Regions, the Ministry of Defence, the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland Offices, the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, Pesticides Safety Directorate, the Medicines Control Agency and the Health and Safety Executive. It recommends that ministers reassess government policy in the light of new evidence, including Dr Jamal's research.

Daily Telegraph, 18 April 1998.

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 40, June 1998, page 15]