Still no recognition of the chronic central and autonomic nervous system effects of organophosphates - which, until 1992, farmers were obliged by law to use twice a year for sheep dipping
Although the 1951 Zuckerman report recommended that "the labels of containers should be required to show the words " Deadly Poison " in large, clear type, a concise statement of the dangers and precautions to be taken antidotes where known and a minimum indication of the purposes for which the product is to be used. The labels should be of a permanent kind..." it was not until 1976 that containers were required to be labelled as potentially hazardous - but there were no recommendations about protective clothing or other precautions. An HSE guidance sheet, known as MS17, was produced in the early 1980s, but was never circulated to doctors, farmers or vets, nor even the Ministry of Defence. www.politics.co.uk/briefings-guides:- "In the 1980s and 1990s, hundreds of farm workers began to report symptoms including fatigue, memory loss, weakness, joint and muscle pain and depression, which they put down to low-level exposure to organophosphates over long periods of time. The government's position was to deny that there was a clear link, but in 2000 and 2001, it funded more research into the effects of organophosphate exposure and poisoning. The results of some of these studies provided support for the poisoning hypothesis, but the outbreak of a Foot and Mouth Disease epidemic in 2001 led to the postponement of the completion of Government-funded studies until 2006/07.
Also in the early 1990s, large numbers of soldiers returning from the Gulf War were claiming to be suffering from similar symptoms, which was subsequently dubbed 'Gulf War Syndrome'. Organophosphates featured prominently among the many theories for the cause of Gulf War Syndrome, with claims that troops had been exposed to some sort of organophosphate pesticide.
In December 1996, defence minister Nicholas Soames confirmed that this was indeed the case. However, the Ministry of Defence continues to refute the existence of Gulf War Syndrome as a genuine and distinct condition."
February 26th 2011 ~ MBM, organophosphates, BSE, and broken lives
- The EU is considering returning to the meat and bone meal feed (MBM) that was widely blamed for BSE. (See www.vetsweb.com) There was never hard evidence to show that BSE was caused by feeding scrapie-infected Meat and Bone Meal to cattle. Far more worrying were - and are - the organophosphates (OPs), the class of chemical to which sarin belongs, and to which so many sheep, cattle, and farmers were exposed before their compulsory use was stopped in 1992.
The late Mark Purdey's painstaking research led him to the conclusion that OPs accelerate the absorption of manganese in the brain to misfold the prion protein.
- "This generates free radicals which in turn set off a chain reaction - rather like cluster bombs which destroy the brain," he explained to The Times in 2000
February 18th 2011 ~ "The way to ensuring public confidence in food and farming is by making sure the authorities are open to public scrutiny at every opportunity."
- John Rigby, NFU Chairman for Lancashire, has sent his own view of this year's NFU conference. His interest in the problem of organophosphate poisoning (caused by the sheep dip chemical which, until 1992, farmers were obliged by law to use) is allied to his concern that the focus on infected beef as being a cause of new variant CJD has been misplaced. He writes too about how the conference approached the vexed question of GM. Read in full
- House of Lords debate June 2009
Survey of Health and Pesticide Exposure (SHAPE), led by Tony Fletcher of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Study of Health in Agricultural Workers (SHAW) led by Dr AC Povey, Reader in Molecular Epidemiology, Occupational and Environmental Research Group, Faculty of Medicine and Human Sciences, University of Manchester
Dr Sarah MacKenzie-Ross's recent paper. Information at www.sarahmackenzieross.com
20 - 23 November 2009 ~ "The priority is to recognise the illness and stop further exposure to OPs and other toxic chemicals.."
- There is still no recognition of their chronic central and autonomic nervous system effects. When the government made sheep
dipping in organo-phosphates compulsory, as it was until in 1992, they cannot have had any idea that the health repercussions would be so grave and so long lasting - but so it has proved. The final paragraphs of Organophosphate Poisoning - symptoms and treatment, at www.drmyhill.co.uk:
- "The OP afflicted farmer is left to sort out his life as best as he can and usually ends up with declining health, having to sell his farm or rent out his fields. His marriage usually flounders because he can't pull his weight. No wonder that a significant proportion commit suicide.
Fortunately most farmers are intelligent and realise the above state of affairs. But the lack of street credibility and help from Government Agencies make this illness a social and financial disaster area."
Dr Sarah MacKenzie-Ross's recent paper, (see the Farmers Guardian May 15 and a description of the study on www.sarahmackenzieross.com),warns, as she says:
-
" ... that there might be a slow cumulative effect on people. We have got no idea how many people out there are suffering. .. We think it is more dangerous than previously thought. Defra's advice should stress OPs should be a last resort and that other chemicals can be used."
20 - 23 November 2009 ~ "we were led to believe that OPs were safe if used as instructed.." Countess of Mar.
- At the start of the House of Lords debate on organophosphates in June this year, the Countess of Mar called for the reconvening of the Carden Committee:
- "...I cannot express adequately the effect that the somewhat apathetic attitude of those who are responsible for ensuring our health and safety over the past 20 years has had....My own experience has taught me that there is an almost total lack of understanding of the life-threatening heart and lung function damage and of the effects of administering drugs that act on the acetylcholine system. ..."
Lord Tyler said,
- "Sheep farmers had to use OPs - twice a year, under the original arrangements. The Government, as well as those responsible for manufacture, had not just a moral but a legal responsibility for the use of organophosphates.
- whether " the Minister can assure us that as regards the inordinate delay that has occurred - literally thousands of sheep farmers in the UK are medically proven to be affected by this issue - his department and other government departments have not been put upon by the Treasury not to accept any liability or proof whatever that OP has the effect which many medical practitioners accept is the cause of the terrible condition from which many of these people suffer?"
The evidence coming out of the US on Gulf War Syndrome has given new impetus to the issue. Organophosphates are also used in aeroplane engine oil and are now thought to be able to cause toxic fumes.
16 October 2009 ~ One last push on OP issue by NFU director general
- The Farmers Guardian reports that "Departing NFU director general, Richard Macdonald, has vowed to put pressure on the Government to speed up research on organophosphate (OP) poisoning during his last days in the post.
Mr Macdonald acknowledged at the NFU council meeting on Tuesday that OP dips had been an 'incredibly difficult issue to deal with' during his 13 years in the job...Mr Macdonald said he would ensure all the NFU's work on OPs was passed on to his replacement.
"What we have got to do is press the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, researchers and Government to speed up all available scientific evidence so we can make proper decisions. There also needs to be pressure on finding alternatives. At the moment we are in the position of not having many, if any, suitable alternatives, while, at the same time, there is this worry about the impact of OPs on human health," he said.
Afterwards, Mr Rigby said he left the meeting feeling 'quite pleased things are moving'.." Read in full
August 16, 2008 ~ Campaigner vindicated by 50-year-old report
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The Rochdale Observer (pdf)
"The discovery of a damning government
report on the potential dangers of sheep dip, unearthed after 50 years, has been hailed
as a major breakthrough by pesticides campaigner Brenda Sutcliffe.
Leading scientists, who were commissioned by the government to look into the toxicity
of chemicals used by agricultural workers, drew links between the organophosphates
and nerve agents in chemical weapons.
The 1951 Zuckerman report, which has been filed away in the Houses of Commons library, discovered exposure could lead to more than 30 symptoms, including giddiness, tinnitus, loss of memory, restlessness, depression and schizophrenia.
Scientists recommended that the labels of products containing OPs should be marked 'deadly poison' in large clear type and also stated that death could occur as a result of a single exposure.
They also made three key recommendations, that OPs cause chronic health damage, those who use them must have weekly medical examinations and doctors must be educated in the symptoms and treatment of OP exposure.
Brenda, of Sheep Bank Farm, Littleborough, has been campaigning against the use of organophosphates in sheep dip since she and her family became ill after using it more than 15 years ago.
She said: "I am absolutely furious. This is what I have been arguing about all along. "I cannot believe that any government, yet alone our government, would continue to encourage people to use these chemicals after discovering the dangers. "I am very, very angry about it and we have big plans for this information. "It says in the report that one exposure can cause death, but shepherds have been exposed to it time and time again."