Campaigners against the use of organophosphorous dips are "up in
arms" about a document that has appeared on the
Health and Safety Executive website which, they
say, acknowledges for the first time that these substances are
hazardous by inhalation.
Retired Lancashire farmer Brenda Sutcliffe, who has campaigned
relentlessly for 15 years for a ban on OP dips, says she finds it
"totally unbelievable" that a document containing such specific
health warnings has not been issued to every sheep farmer in the
UK.
"It was a friend of mine in the building industry who spotted
the document on the HSE website. It was only posted on there last
month and includes the first admission by the HSE that OP dips are
hazardous by inhalation.
"The HSE has never openly admitted this before, despite all our
calls for them to do so, and yet here it is buried away in a
document that has not been issued to farmers. And what makes this
even more unbelievable is the fact that we are in the midst of the
sheep dipping season," says Mrs Sutcliffe of Littleborough,
Lancashire.
The 12-page document entitled Sheep dipping - advice for farmers
and others involved in dipping sheep states that hazardous
substances can enter the body in three ways: Through the skin, by
swallowing and by breathing in the vapour.
Mrs Sutcliffe, whose family farmed sheep and who has suffered
severe health problems, says it is impossible to use these
compounds without breathing it in. "Inhaling the dip vapour has
always been a major risk and here we finally see the HSE making an
open admission to sheep producers about the danger of OP dips."
Fellow Lancashire farmer Margaret Percival from Wigan - now
semi-retired from farming after four years of serious health
problems - asks why it has taken the HSE 30 years to make the
admission in its new document on sheep dipping.
"Back in the 1970s we were told we only needed to wear
protective clothing if we were topping up the dip or when mixing
the dip - not when we were actually dipping the sheep. And yet
suddenly, buried away on the internet, is an open admission that OP
dips are hazardous if inhaled. Does the
HSE expect farmers to dip sheep without
breathing?"
jh@jeremyhuntassociates.com