Vol. 470 No. 4
109 Miss Harney asked the Minister for Health the steps, if any, he proposes to take to prevent the use of antimony trioxide to fireproof mattresses in view of the fact that the World Health Organisation has identified it as a carcinogenic risk. [19285/96]
Limerick East): The World Health Organisation through the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has investigated antimony trioxide and has concluded on the basis of its research that there is inadequate evidence for the carcinogenicity of antimony trioxide in humans.
On that basis it has designated antimony trioxide as an agent which is possibly carcinogenic to humans. It has therefore been designated as being a member of group 2B in accordance with WHO criteria. This category is generally used for agents for which there is limited evidence of carcinogenicity in humans in the absence of sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals. It may also be used when there is inadequate evidence of carcinogenicity in humans or when human data are non-existent but there is sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals. In some instances, an agent for which there is inadequate evidence or no data in humans but limited evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals together with supporting evidence from other relevant data may be placed in this group.
I would not therefore have a justification to seek a prohibition on the use of antimony trioxide to fireproof mattresses.
