UK government backs OPs

UK government ministers are concerned about the continuing public debate over whether OP pesticides damage human health.  As a result the government has set up a high-level group of civil servants who report to ministers collectively. The group contains representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Department of Health, the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, the Ministry of Defence, the Scottish Office, the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland, the Welsh Office, the Cabinet Office, the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, the Pesticides Safety Directorate, the Medical Control Agency and the Health and Safety Executive. The culmination of their deliberations were published in a June report(1).
    Commenting on the review Michael Meacher, the Environment Minister, said: "It is probably the most thorough re-examination on the subject we have had. There are however still a number of areas where further work is necessary." 
    The report focused mainly on chronic effects and concludes that the potential of OPs for causing ill-health following long-term low level exposure remains unknown and is the main subject of controversy. 
    The civil servants recognised that co-ordination between departments on commissioning of research needs to be strengthened. As a first step, the report has catalogued about 360 government funded current research projects  in order to identify "any overlaps or projects which could be woven together." 
    The report suggests the government's advisory committees on OP products should be expanded. It sees a need to expand the range of independent expertise of the members of the Medical and Scientific Panel, and the Human Suspected Adverse Reaction Appraisal Panel of the Veterinary Products Committee. The Countess of Mar is concerned that the Veterinary Products Committee, as the licensing authority will still largely be responsible for investigating incidents. 
    The proposal for the Pesticide Incidents Appraisal Panel (PIAP) of the Health and Safety Executive goes further, suggesting the number of places for non-government experts should be increased so that they constitute a majority. Enfys Chapman of the Pesticide Exposure Group of Sufferers says this proposal should make a difference-but she still has concerns: "The poor quality of evidence PIAP receives from the HSE is the main problem at present. If the independent experts were able to questions this, then progress may be made."
    The civil servants also commented extensively on a another recent report on the chronic neurotoxic effects of OPs commissioned by the Department of Health(2). Written by Dr David Ray of the Institute for Environment and Health, the review identifies a number of published clinical and epidemiological studies. 
    The civil servants' comment on the Ray report stated: "On the face of it, the review reports a considerable number of these studies that have indicated to a greater or lesser extent, various ill-effects from low-level exposure. To non-expert readers and the general public this may convey a strong impression that OP products are more damaging than has previously been suggested, and should be regulated more tightly." The civil servants, who acknowledge themselves as "not qualified to pass judgement on the science" go onto to dispute this assumed stance of the general public by outlining the fact that data from chronic effects studies are difficult to interpret.
    Ray raises the possibility that there may be a mechanism causing long-term effects from long-term low-level exposure. He concludes: "The mechanism is not currently understood and a number of areas are recommended in the review for further research."

1. Official group on OPs report to ministers, MAFF, Admail 6000, London SW1A 2XX, 1998, 149pp.
2. D. Ray, Organophosphorus esters: an evaluation of chronic neurotoxic effects, MRC Institute for Environment and Health, University of Leicester, 94 Regent Road, Leicester LE1 7DD, UK, 1998, 62pp.

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 41, September 1998, page 23]