asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will take steps to reduce the acceptable concentration of dioxin TCDD to 0·01 mg/kg then to 0·005 mg/kg.

I assume that the hon. Member is referring to the TCDD content of 2,4,5-T herbicides. The maximum permitted level was reduced to 0·01 mg/kg in May 1980. Work is in hand on the further refinement of the necessary analytical techniques with a view to reducing the permitted level to 0·005 mg/kg.