asked the Minister for Health whether, in view of its highly toxic nature, he has placed any restrictions on the sale of a weedkiller (name supplied).
5.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Weedkiller Sales.
4.
andMr. Donnellan asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to a request by the Dublin city coroner for the withdrawal of paraquat from the market; and if it is proposed to take steps to comply with this request.
6.
asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the remarks attributed to the Dublin City Coroner, on the dangers to human life in the use of the weedkiller, paraquat; and if he will consider having this withdrawn from the market.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 4 to 6 together.
I have seen reports of a recent statement by the Dublin city coroner calling for the withdrawal of the weedkiller containing paraquat, referred to by the Deputies. I have had the position regarding the distribution and sale of this substance under consideration for some time.
Under the Poisons Act, 1961 (Paraquat) Regulations, 1968, this weedkiller may not be distributed, supplied, sold or offered or kept for sale except by the manufacturers and wholesalers of the product, chemists or druggists, and persons licensed by local authorities as sellers of poisons. Furthermore, it must be secured in the sealed container as supplied by the manufacturer which must have legibly written on it the word "Poison" and a warning that the contents should not be taken, should be kept out of the reach of children, should not be re-packed from the container and that the container should be destroyed when empty.
Subsequent to the making of the regulations, health authorities, following a request in a letter of 20th September, 1968, from my Department, wrote to and arranged for an appropriate officer to call on authorised sellers of poisons to ensure that they fully understood and were complying with the requirements of the paraquat regulations. The sellers were strongly urged on each occasion on which they sold the weedkiller in question to draw the attention of the customer to the warning given on the container to the danger of transferring the preparation to another container, except for the purpose of immediate use, and to the importance of taking meticulous care in its storage and use.
However, despite these measures there have been further fatalities involving the weedkiller. These have arisen through persons drinking the preparation, in some cases deliberately. I am advised that no case of poisoning has arisen from its use as a weedkiller in the prescribed manner.
My Department have been keeping in close contact with the manufacturers and the firm proposes to take the following immediate further measures.
(1) To issue a letter to each farmer in the country emphasising the need for compliance with the warnings on the container and particularly the danger of decanting the preparation into another container.
(2) To issue appropriate warning notices in the national press.
(3) To restrict the number of distributors and sellers of the weedkiller.
In addition, the manufacturers are carrying out research with a view to the production of the weedkiller in a form which would prevent it being drunk accidentally.
I am advised that the weedkiller is extremely useful in agriculture and horticulture and I do not consider that I would be justified at this stage in taking steps for its withdrawal.
Is the Minister aware that in the case of a weedkiller of the name supplied in Question No. 4, there is at the moment an action before the courts——
(Cavan): Exactly.
——as a result of a death from this weedkiller, and does he not consider that he would be justified, if not permanently, at least until this matter is cleared up, in prohibiting the sale of this weedkiller?
(Cavan): Is the Minister aware, as Deputy Belton has said, that there is at hearing before a jury in the High Court at the moment an action arising out of the death of a person who is alleged to have partaken of weedkiller? In those circumstances does the Minister think he should have dealt with this matter in the House today?
I was not specifically aware of this, but all I have done is to indicate the steps that have been taken by the manufacturers now in this connection.
(Cavan): The jury may read this discussion in tomorrow's morning paper before they give their decision in the case at hearing.
I have spoken of the future. Possibly what the Deputy says is true, but it was not mentioned to me there was a case. However, I have only spoken about future decisions. Anything I have said cannot affect what has taken place in the past.
Could the Minister say if the report which has appeared in the newspapers is true, that 15 people died from this weedkiller in the Dublin region in the past three years?
There again if I were to start to say anything in connection with the past I might be doing exactly what Deputy Fitzpatrick suggests I should not do. What I have tried to do is to give a picture of the future.
That would be a dangerous thing to do after today.
(Interruptions.)
Question No. 7.
There will be several people taking weedkiller over there.
(Interruptions.)
(Cavan): The Minister for External Affairs seems to think that things are looking bright for him.
We have so much talent we sicken you.
Question No. 7, the Minister for External Affairs.
I wish to ask the Minister for Health a question. The paper only stated that 15 deaths may have arisen, but now that there is a definite case of one death as a result of this weedkiller, does the Minister not feel that even at this late hour he should withdraw this weedkiller from the market?
Certainly not. There are plenty of other poisons kept in the household which have to be used with care. Another step is being taken which I think is the most valuable of all, that is, in connection with the size in which this product is sold. It will be sold in smaller volume so that there will no longer be the problem that when a container was bought it was transferred into smaller containers for joint use by farmers. The larger containers will now only be used by the big farmer who wishes to make use of it entirely himself. The small farmer will be able to buy it in small quantities, which will at least eliminate the possibility of people imbibing the weedkiller because it is not transferred to a bucket for immediate use but into a bottle for transferring into a bucket later. That should be the very best step that can be taken.