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Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Whitty: The Government's Strategy for Sustainable Farming and Food is divided into 10 workstreams for the purpose of managing the programme of implementation. These are: food chain, agri-environment, environmental protection, better regulation and whole farm approach, investing in the future, new technology and new markets, consumer health needs, animal health and welfare, financial issues, and global context.
Lord Lucas asked Her Majesty's Government:
(a) what scientific, peer-reviewed evidence was used by the Advisory Committee on Pesticides in formulating the conclusion that dichlorvos might be genotoxic;
(b) what evidence has subsequently become available to support or oppose this conclusion;
(c) what research is under way to establish the truth or otherwise of this conclusion; and
(d) what research or data gathering they are undertaking to monitor the incidence of clothes moth infestation in England.[HL4047]
Lord Whitty: Dichlorvos was assessed as a part of the UK's review of anticholinesterase compounds. The UK approval holder submitted data in support of the review, including a number of laboratory studies that identified potential mutagenic effects from the use of pesticides containing dichlorvos. These included studies concerning direct effects on DNA, and on chromosome structure and number.
Summaries of the data were submitted to the Advisory Committee on Pesticides. The committee concluded, with the assistance of advice from the Committee on Mutagenicity, that dichlorvos should be regarded as an in-vivo mutagen at the site of contact, and that no threshold could be assumed for the mutagenic and carcinogenic effects of dichlorvos.
Ministers' decision to suspend all dichlorvos approvals was taken on a precautionary basis in the light of the committees' advice. These suspensions will continue until such time as the approval holders submit further data providing reassurances regarding the mutagenic and carcinogenic potential of dichlorvos.
There is no ongoing government research or investigations into the incidence of clothes moth infestations in England.
Baroness Byford asked Her Majesty's Government:
Why the graph on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs website, "percentage of all cattle herds with reactors" does not show figures beyond 1998.[HL4101]
Lord Whitty: As part of our response to the seventh report of Session 200203 by the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee on badgers and bovine TB, the Government undertook to review the pages of the TB webpages of Defra's internet site. This will include decisions about whether to update or replace existing pages which have fallen behind or become obsolete. The Government's response was published by the committee on 24 June as the eighth special report of Session 200203.
The graph showing "percentage of all cattle herds with reactors (confirmed and unconfirmed) 196298" was intended as a "snapshot" update of a graph shown in the Krebs report. We will consider how useful it would be to update the information as part of the overall review of the webpages.
Baroness Byford asked Her Majestry's Government:
Lord Whitty: The Weymouth laboratory of the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) is designated under the Shellfish Hygiene Directive (91/492/EEC) as the community reference laboratory for monitoring bacteriological and viral contamination of bivalve molluscs and as the national reference laboratory for the United Kingdom.
In this capacity, the laboratory advises on use of the most probable number (MPN) procedure, but does not undertake routine testing of shellfish samples for the purpose of the classification of shellfish harvesting areas in the UK. In England and Wales this is undertaken by local laboratories of the Health Protection Agency and hospital trusts, in Scotland by FRS Marine Laboratory, Aberdeen, and in Northern Ireland by the Public Health Laboratory at Belfast City Hospital.
The Shellfish Hygiene Directive specifies the use of a five-tube three-dilution MPN procedure for the
testing of shellfish samples for classification of production areas. In France, official laboratories use both a five-tube three-dilution MPN procedure and an alternative semi-automated procedure. The latter is calibrated and validated against the MPN test. The method currently in use in Holland does not appear to conform to the requirements of the directive.Shellfish waters are also sampled under the Shellfish Waters Directive (79/923/EEC) and the associated UK regulations. In England and Wales, this is the responsibility of the Environment Agency, in Scotland of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and in Northern Ireland of the Department of the Environment. CEFAS does not undertake any responsibilities or practical work in relation to the testing of samples taken for this purpose.
Lord Marlesford asked Her Majesty's Government:
2002 | |||||
Week No | Passive Surveillance | Active Surveillance | Reported(2) | ||
Number confirmed each week | Running 52 week total | Number confirmed each week | Running 52 week total | Running 52 week total | |
1 | 0 | 751 | 0 | 261 | 1207 |
2 | 19 | 734 | 0 | 259 | 1209 |
3 | 22 | 742 | 0 | 259 | 1208 |
4 | 12 | 742 | 51 | 310 | 1200 |
5 | 2 | 733 | 21 | 331 | 1201 |
6 | 25 | 747 | 29 | 359 | 1183 |
7 | 15 | 731 | 30 | 385 | 1182 |
8 | 9 | 728 | 7 | 390 | 1179 |
9 | 16 | 732 | 15 | 403 | 1171 |
10 | 10 | 732 | 4 | 406 | 1157 |
11 | 14 | 740 | 31 | 436 | 1147 |
12 | 19 | 746 | 0 | 435 | 1149 |
13 | 12 | 753 | 34 | 469 | 1142 |
14 | 0 | 734 | 0 | 467 | 1148 |
15 | 26 | 750 | 13 | 477 | 1150 |
16 | 1 | 747 | 30 | 505 | 1151 |
17 | 20 | 754 | 0 | 505 | 1157 |
18 | 16 | 751 | 13 | 518 | 1164 |
19 | 7 | 745 | 8 | 523 | 1157 |
20 | 15 | 745 | 1 | 523 | 1156 |
21 | 7 | 736 | 12 | 535 | 1153 |
22 | 16 | 737 | 9 | 544 | 1149 |
23 | 0 | 728 | 1 | 545 | 1130 |
24 | 17 | 731 | 22 | 565 | 1135 |
25 | 8 | 724 | 5 | 570 | 1134 |
26 | 5 | 716 | 16 | 586 | 1136 |
27 | 0 | 699 | 0 | 586 | 1136 |
28 | 7 | 689 | 19 | 604 | 1120 |
29 | 1 | 680 | 0 | 604 | 1103 |
30 | 4 | 661 | 11 | 615 | 1096 |
31 | 4 | 658 | 7 | 622 | 1078 |
32 | 22 | 669 | 16 | 633 | 1078 |
33 | 9 | 642 | 9 | 642 | 1054 |
34 | 7 | 641 | 10 | 638 | 1049 |
35 | 6 | 643 | 5 | 637 | 1046 |
36 | 3 | 629 | 8 | 637 | 1033 |
37 | 8 | 626 | 4 | 741 | 1029 |
38 | 7 | 623 | 5 | 627 | 1016 |
39 | 7 | 600 | 19 | 640 | 998 |
40 | 11 | 578 | 7 | 637 | 978 |
41 | 6 | 572 | 6 | 621 | 970 |
42 | 8 | 550 | 11 | 624 | 951 |
43 | 9 | 544 | 2 | 601 | 940 |
44 | 4 | 516 | 7 | 602 | 933 |
45 | 13 | 517 | 18 | 605 | 939 |
46 | 5 | 513 | 2 | 582 | 924 |
47 | 13 | 515 | 12 | 591 | 906 |
48 | 22 | 536 | 23 | 586 | 899 |
49 | 3 | 514 | 31 | 611 | 893 |
50 | 11 | 514 | 6 | 601 | 883 |
51 | 5 | 507 | 9 | 598 | 879 |
52 | 1 | 508 | 0 | 598 | 876 |
(2) Reportednumber of cases placed under restriction during the period. Refers only to passive surveillance cases.
Passive Surveillance Active Surveillance Reported
Week No Number confirmed each week Running 52 week total Number confirmed each week Running 52 week total Running 52 week total
1 0 508 0 598 878
2 7 496 15 613 865
3 2 476 10 623 851
4 2 466 28 600 844
5 4 468 7 586 830
6 5 448 7 564 828
7 6 439 4 538 817
8 5 435 37 568 795
9 6 425 5 558 784
10 3 418 13 567 777
11 5 409 15 551 776
12 2 392 13 564 767
13 8 388 13 543 764
14 3 391 2 545 751
15 2 367 12 544 734
16 0 366 5 519 717
17 7 353 16 535 702
18 0 337 0 522 681
19 8 338 16 530 678
20 1 324 0 529 664
21 6 323 22 539 652
22 3 310 2 532 642
23 5 315 8 539 648
24 0 298 7 524 637
25 4 294 0 519 626
26 2 291 17 520 612
27 5 296 1 521 605
28 4 293 10 512 599
29 2 294 2 514 594
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