Carcinogenic Substances (Regulations)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 10 July 1967.

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Photo of Hon. Nicholas Ridley Hon. Nicholas Ridley , Cirencester and Tewkesbury 12:00, 10 July 1967

I do not want to be more than a few moments, because time is short, but I join the hon. Lady the Member for Wood Green (Mrs. Joyce Butler) in welcoming these Regulations, which, as she says, constitute an important advance in industrial preventive medicine.

I echo the hon. Lady's comment that the Government have not heeded the representations of some of the people concerned, and have not drafted the Regulations in accordance with some of the technical advice which I have been given.

There is one point which I would like to raise with the Minister. It concerns benzidine dihydrochloride. I understand that this is a very dangerous substance. Modern research indicates that it should be used in a mixture of which water should form between 23 and 35 per cent. of the total. As the Regulation is drafted, water is to form not less than one-third or 33 per cent. of the total. I understand that the Department has accepted that there is good logic for what I have just suggested.

I do not want to go into the merits, but I do not believe that it will be acceptable just to say that the Regulations will not be enforced in their present form. I understand that it has been accepted that to describe one-third as the minimum is the wrong way to deal with it. The Regulation should, therefore, be withdrawn, and another put in its place. It is no good saying, "We know that this is not the right way to do it, but we are going to carry on with the Regulation anyway and we will wink if anybody has the wrong proportion of water in his benzidine dihydrochloride".

I hope that the hon. Gentleman will do what I have suggested, and not take the sloppy way out of saying, "Very few people are concerned, and it does not matter very much. We will not prosecute anybody breaking the Regulation". As this Regulation is to be part of the law, it should be right, down to the last detail.

Under subsection (iv) on the same page, the use of any quay or dock is prohibited except for exporting this substance, but much of it has to be imported, and this will be made legal, I understand, in a subsequent Order. I should like an undertaking that this later Order will be laid, as it would be wrong to prohibit the import of these materials without another allowing it, or this business would come to a halt. Otherwise we certainly welcome the Regulations, and will not impede their progress.