Organophosphates

Question

Asked by

The Countess of Mar
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the interdepartmental committee on organophosphates, also known as the Carden Committee, last met; what subjects were discussed; whether their deliberations were minuted and published; and which members attended. [HL3873]

The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change & Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath)
The Official Group on Organophosphates (sometimes referred to as the Carden Committee) last met on 26 June 2007. The meeting discussed the government-sponsored research programme on organophosphates and agreed that all of the research should be referred to the Committee on Toxicity (COT) of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment. The John Harvey report, aircraft cabin-air contamination, the Australian review of diazinon were also discussed.

The Chief Veterinary Officer and other officials from the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, Scottish Government Rural Directorate, the Department of Health, the Health and Safety Executive, the Food Standards Agency, the Ministry of Defence and the Office for Science and Innovation attended the meeting.

Apologies were received from the Welsh Assembly Government, Department for Agriculture and Rural Development Northern Ireland, the Pesticide Safety Directorate, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the Scottish Government Health Directorate, the Health Protection Agency and the Cabinet Office.

The minutes of these meetings are not published.